Living with Lucy
by Kathryn Claire O'Connor
Summary: After the Battle of Manhattan, Odin orders Loki to live in Avengers Tower as a mortal servant to Clint Barton without magic or powers - and thanks to Thor, he's doing it as a female called Lucy Saint. But things do not go as planned, between keeping Lucy's identity from the other Avengers, Clint's unusual plan of attack, and... spin the bottle? *FrostHawk with genderbent Loki.*
1. Chapter 1

**Me: Wait a second, what is this? I don't write things like this!**

**Loki: Then kindly explain this atrocity!**

**Clint: I think it's hilarious.**

**Loki: Well, I certainly don't!**

**Clint: The readers agree with me...**

**Loki: No, they don't!**

**Me: If you guys would shut up, we could just let them decide for themselves...**

**Clint: Please. by all means, readers, read on.**

* * *

Their father had never looked this angry before and quite frankly it frightened Thor a little to look at Odin now, to where he sat on his throne, glaring down at Loki as the disgraced god knelt before him in chains. The two brothers had only returned to their home planet a few weeks ago following the Battle of Manhattan, and now the three were alone in the throne room so that Loki could receive his sentencing from the king.

Odin's first words surprised Thor as the gray-haired man said to Loki, almost lovingly, "I still think of you as my son, despite all that you've done."

Loki glared heatedly and rolled his eyes, but even he knew when not to open his mouth. Further agitating the man who was about to sentence him was not a good idea.

Odin continued, "But you simply will not learn your lesson, my son. This is not the first time that you have attacked earth, and something must be done to make you understand what you are doing and the consequences of it. Something drastic, I'm afraid. So I've decided to send you back to Earth – to New York – as a mortal, stripped of your powers that you may see and live with the devastation that you have caused. Furthermore, I want you to see the very heart of that devastation within those who you hurt the most. I've received word that since you and your brother returned to Asgard, the Avengers have began living as a group in the home of Anthony Stark; I want you to live with them – under Thor's watchful eye, of course – and hopefully living as a human will help you rediscover whatever sliver of humanity is still within yourself. I want you to serve these people – particularly the one Clint Barton – until I deem you as having learned your lesson."

"They won't allow it, Father," Thor said, not wanting to contradict but knowing that he must tell Odin what he believed to be the truth. "They don't need another manservant; Tony Stark already has a rather complicated one within his home."

Odin narrowed his eyes at Loki, giving Thor's word some thought until he finally nodded, having come to another decision. "As you wish; there shall be no second manservant. A second spell is required, then, beyond taking away Loki's powers."

Loki's eyes widened as he realized what Odin meant to do to him, and suddenly he was on his feet and trying to run. A forceful beam shot out of Odin's hand, and Loki fell flat on the marble floor, groaning with the sudden agony the pain of that blow would bring to a mortal – and a mortal his brother has just become, Thor realized.

The next instant, he realized what Loki already had – what Odin's second spell was to be – in the same moment that Odin cast the spell on his brother.

And in the moment after that, Thor wasn't staring in wide-eyed disbelief at his older brother… but at his… sister.

* * *

"This is so stupid!" Loki raged the next day as he… she… walked the streets of New York beside his –her – brother. "I should not have to suffer through being this way, I certainly should not have to 'serve the Avengers,' and I most certainly should not have to _serve Clint Barton."_

Thor, walking beside her but completely unable to do more than glance at his… sister… ground out, "Keep talking and my dagger will make sure that you don't have to."

The rage in Loki's tone was nothing new to him, but the absolute femininity of said tone was going to take some getting used to.

"You think that piece of metal will hurt me?" Loki scoffed.

"As a mortal, yes," Thor answered, giving Loki – dressed in the clothing of an American man – a sidelong glance.

Loki growled as they took a turn off of the sidewalk and started up the ridiculously long drive to Tony Stark's Avengers Tower.

"Behave," Thor ordered. "You're not invincible anymore."

"Speaking of which, here's another thought: is it really a good idea for me to be living in the same house as your Agents Barton and Romanov if I'm so vulnerable? When they find out who I am, I'm dead. Surely you don't want that for me, do you, brother?"

Loki looked over at him, a glimmer of real fear in her eyes, and Thor was deeply startled by the thought that this female version of Loki had pretty eyes as he said, "Of course not."

"So we lie to them then."

It hadn't been phrased as a question, but Thor knew that he could still veto the idea if he wanted to. The only problem was that, like Loki, he didn't see any other way for the time being, so he nodded grudgingly.

"I can be one of the poor wretches whose home was destroyed by the battle," Loki said, beginning to spin a back story for the mortal woman that she had become. "You're around earthlings more than I; what is an inconspicuous female name that I might adopt? I can't tell them my name is Loki, obviously."

Thor thought for a second in silence before answering, "Lucy."

"Lucy… Saint," Loki decided.

Thor laughed bitterly before he could catch himself, repeating, "Lucy Saint."

"You found me wandering the streets upon your return to earth once you had delivered Loki back to Asgard," Loki-Lucy said, continuing to come up with her story. "And of course you thought of your noble friends the Avengers when you realized that I needed a place to stay. They would never turn away a homeless mortal woman."

"And how does that lead to you completing the 'serving them – particularly Clint Barton' part of your sentence?" Thor asked, not feeling as testy as he had a moment ago.

"If I must, of course, I'll work for my keep here, you worthless oaf. You'll see, I'll make it work to dear Daddy's satisfaction."

Thor raised his eyebrows, finally looking "Lucy" straight in the eyes as he answered while ringing the doorbell of Avengers Tower, "You must if you want to get back to normal."

Loki sighed, and Thor knew that she was feeling totally trapped into following their father's orders since she was sans powers, immortality, and even her normal gender, as she answered, "For that, I shall do whatever it takes."

"Even become a powerless slave to the man who wants to kill you more than anyone else in all the Nine Realms?"

"Shut up, ninny."

Thor didn't like this situation for his brother - sister, but at that moment even he had to smile a little at it. Since he had – unbeknownst to Loki… Lucy – talked to Clint only hours after the sentencing and explained the situation to the archer, he had a feeling that Clint was going to do the impossible and unsettle Lucy even more once she was in his care. And Thor had decided that might just be interesting to watch…

* * *

**Many thanks to IntoTheWilds for talking through this one with me multiple times! Reviews are my new best friend if you want to drop me one! Thanks again, guys!:)**


	2. Chapter 2

Clint's day had been very interesting yesterday. There wasn't anything particularly interesting about meeting for lunch with a coworker… but then Thor wasn't your average coworker. Still, it was the conversation that had taken the cake. It had been quite the lesson in Asgardian magic and law, to say nothing of the Odinsons' screwy family dynamics. What Clint had thought was going to be a normal meeting had quickly taken a turn into weird, and he would be the first to admit that the plan that he had come up with was weird in its own right, but he had a feeling that if he could actually pull it off, it would be great fun.

And it had all started out with such a routine question…

_Clint slid casually into the side of the booth that was opposite Thor at the shwarma joint that the Avengers had been to once before, a little surprised to see that Thor had thought to wear layman's clothes as he asked, "How's it going?"_

_"__To my sibling's daughter."_

_"__What?" Clint asked in confusion._

_"__Her name is Hel," Thor explained curtly, knowing Clint could fill in the blanks._

_"__Fitting of Loki's kid," Clint muttered before asking warily. "What's that mean? Did Loki get himself free or something?"_

_"__No, he's very imprisoned still – helpless even."_

_"__Good for him."_

_Thor glared for a second before admitting, "And that's where you come in."_

_"__How exactly does that work?" Clint asked with a not so covert snort._

_Thor sighed and toyed with a piece of the shwarma that he'd already ordered for them both, saying haltingly, "My father has chosen a rather… unconventional… method of punishing my brother."_

_"__How's that?"_

_"__He's sending him here to Midgard."_

_"__Like he did you?" Clint asked, his jaw clenching at the idea. "Free to do whatever he wants?"_

_"__Yes and no. I'm to accompany Loki and keep an eye on him. He has been stripped of his powers; he's a mortal now."_

_Clint waited, since it looked like there was something else Thor needed to tell him, but when the god didn't speak – and didn't meet his eyes, either – the archer asked, "Is there some other stipulation?"_

_"__Father's put a spell on my brother to make it so that Loki's… changed forms," Thor hedged, sighing before admitting what Clint could've _never _seen coming. "He's a female mortal now."_

_Clint froze, taking a few seconds to process what he had just been told before he smirked, getting some sadistic version of pleasure out of this revelation as he asked, "So your immortal brother is now your very killable sister?!"_

_Thor's eyes flew to Clint's face at his wording, eyes wide, all but begging, "Promise me you won't kill him."_

_"__Because you'd let me do that," Clint drawled sarcastically._

_"__I suspect it to be what my father desires the outcome of Loki's trip to Midgard to be," Thor said flatly._

_Clint didn't quite buy it. "He wants his own kid dead?"_

_"__Loki has never truly been viewed by our father as my equal – not as a child of Odin."_

_"__Isn't that – dead – still a little extreme?"_

_Thor shrugged, saying simply, "My father is very angry with him."_

_Clint shrugged it off then, getting back on point by saying, "Where do I fit into all of this?"_

_"__There is… as you put it, more stipulations to Loki's sentence." Thor was choosing his words carefully again, and Clint had to resist the urge to fidget before the god continued, "My father has demanded that Loki and I take up residence in the Avengers Tower so that Loki may see how his attack on Manhattan has affected the Avengers."_

_"__Over my dead body," Clint snapped. "To say nothing of what Stark would have to say of the guy living in his house."_

_"__Given Loki's current form, I think the man of iron would be all too willing to allow entrance," Thor said, flinching a little._

_"__No," Clint shook his head, "Not even Stark's that stupid."_

_"__There's more," Thor said, dangling the words like they were supposed to sweeten the deal._

_Clint growled, "What?"_

_"__My father doesn't just want Loki to learn about humanity, but about humility as well. He desires for Loki to be a… servant..." Thor shifted, adding, "Yours, specifically."_

_Clint's eyebrows went way up again and he finally verified, "Does that mean that I can do whatever I want with him… her?"_

_"__Yes," Thor admitted, looking like he hated to say it. "But, please, do not kill Loki; he's still my family… You'd be killing me as well."_

_Clint had to think hard on it for what was probably a full minute before he grudgingly said, "Alright, I promise, no killing Loki. But you've got to know that I can't just let him get off scot free."_

_"__Fine," Thor said, releasing a breath in relief. "Just so long as you spare his life, I won't get involved in whatever you decide befits what he's done."_

_They ate in silence for a few minutes while Clint pondered what exactly he would do with Loki before he was hit with an idea that was so bizarre, he knew immediately he would try it._

_"__When are you and Loki showing up at the Tower?"_

_"__Tomorrow evening."_

_"__How changed is Loki's appearance?"_

_"__He's… she's nearly unrecognizable. If you didn't know who she was, you wouldn't recognize her."_

_Clint smiled, and was further amused to see that his happy expression appeared to terrify the god across from him as he said, "Good."_

_"__Why?"_

_Clint ignored the question as he asked, "Do you two think it'd be necessary to tell the others who this woman who's going to be showing up actually is?"_

_"__I'm not fond of the idea, and I doubt Loki is. Why?"_

_"__Well then, let Loki drum up an alias and back story."_

_"__If I know my brother-"_

_"__-Sister-" _

_"__-Like I believe I do, he'll think of doing that on his own, I'm sure," Thor said, asking for the third time, "Why?"_

_"__Because I want him to die and you don't want him killed, do I have this right?"_

_"__Yes, but I don't understand; have you found some sort of a compromise to that?"_

_"__Thor," Clint asked lazily, leaning back in his seat and grinning like a Cheshire cat. "Have you ever heard of killing someone with kindness?"_

And now here he was, alone on his floor of Avengers Tower and waiting for Thor and Loki when the doorbell rang.


	3. Chapter 3

"If it's Thor wanting to come up here to my floor, let him in, Jarvis," Clint ordered. "And tell them that I'm in the entertainment room."

Clint stretched a lazy smile across his face and flung himself across the length of one of the room's couches, flipping on the monstrous flat screen television. A minute later, Thor walked in to the room as expected, with a small ebony-haired woman tailing him.

"Hey, guys," Clint said nonchalantly, then glanced at Loki – or whatever version of Loki this woman was – adding, "And girls." His gaze flipped back to the game that was on the television as he remarked, "Boobs look good on you, Lokes."

The woman growled, taking a pointed step towards him before Thor stopped her.

"Just know – what name are you going by now? – that any attempt on my life voids my promise to your dear big brother that I won't kill you," Clint warned casually.

"How sweet of you to give him your word," the woman drawled, and Clint just barely bit back his look of surprise at the absolute femininity of her voice.

He wondered momentarily if the spell Odin had cast on his child had purposely included an extra dose of femininity, because – when Clint actually looked at her then – he realized that this woman really was beautiful, despite her ill-chosen masculine clothing. But this woman was actually Loki, and that meant that Clint had to stay very much objective here or he was still running the chance of getting his eyes ripped out.

"Please, sit," Clint said to his guests, waving carelessly at the other couch in the room as he sat himself up straight. Thor and Loki obliged and Clint asked, "So, have you made up a new identity yet, Lokes?"

"Do not call me that," the woman gritted out.

"Reindeer games?" Clint volunteered, borrowing Stark's nickname for the frost giant.

The woman just glared at him a little harder than before, and it struck Clint that, though the eyes of this person before him were Loki's eyes, they looked much better in a female's face. The thought nearly made him smile, but he doubted it would have the same affect on female-Loki and Clint decided not to volunteer it just yet.

"Really, though, what's your name for while you're here?" he asked her.

"Lucy."

"Lucy…"

"Saint."

"Perfect," Clint scoffed. "Why are you here – according to your story?"

"Thor found me homeless after the Battle of Manhattan and thought to bring me here to live until further notice."

Thor supplied, "Until Father declares he's served enough time."

"I don't like that cover," Clint said. "We're not going to use it."

Annoyance flared on _Lucy Saint's _face as she asked, "Then what are we going to tell the rest of your cohorts?"

Thor shifted uncomfortably on the couch next to his sister, knowing what was coming next as Clint answered, "You're an old friend of mine from when I was little in Waverly, Iowa. After you saw a piece about the Battle on the news, you got concerned and decided to track me down, which of course took you a few weeks to do, but you're here now, rekindling an innocent friendship that is suddenly wrapped in romantic tension now that we're reconnecting as adults."

"I beg your unholy pardon!" Lucy screeched, surging to her feet and – Clint assumed – swearing a blue-streak in Norse.

"Or I could just kill you now," Clint said cheerfully.

"But you promised Thor you wouldn't," Lucy said, trying to sound calm while still shaking with rage.

"You implied that you don't think I'm a man of my word, and I would hate to disappoint you."

"How kind of you," Lucy sneered.

"All I ask is that you remember that I'm in charge here; you do that and this can go a whole lot smoother. For you too, Thor."

"I don't know what your dear Agent Romanoff puts up with, but I refuse to be treated like this," Lucy seethed.

"Oh, but you don't have a choice. And she isn't _my _Agent Romanoff. I'm pretty sure she's got a thing going with Steve, though…"

Lucy suddenly rolled her eyes, asking, "Are you so very desperate for a real girlfriend, then, that you're willing to force a man to take the position? Is that the way you – oh, what's the term you mortals use? – _swing, _Agent Barton?"

Clint snorted, running his eyes bluntly over Lucy's lithe body. "Hate to break it to you, Angel, but you are _not_ a man."

The woman took another step towards him with blazing eyes, and Thor again intercepted her, asking, "What do you think the chances are that Father is having an eye kept on you at all times?"

Lucy paused, seeing that her brother was probably right.

"He's right," Clint seconded. "Makes sense that the more you behave the sooner you can get out of here and out of my hair. Everybody wins that way."

"And what happens between now and then?" Lucy questioned with that same dry distrust.

"Well, simply put so that we have no _misunderstandings_, you'll stay in my spare bedroom and be my new best friend when we're around the others. You stay in this tower unless accompanied by Thor or myself. You stick to the storyline that I gave you if you know what's good for you; making people suspicious of who you are will probably end in your death at this point, and as much as I would love to see that, I don't think you would enjoy it half as much. Do we understand one another?"

"Yes, warden."

"Good," Clint stretched a smile across his face as he said, "It's good to see you again, Lucy, my old friend."

"You know," Lucy said with a calculated smile of her own. "If this new 'relationship' goes well enough, I might just introduce you to my daughter before this is all over…"

Clint kept right on smiling, enjoying how much he and Lucy were unnerving Thor, as he said, "I'm sure we'll both get to that point eventually."


	4. Chapter 4

The trio talked for twenty more minutes before Jarvis broke into the conversation, saying, "Dinner is served at Mr. Stark's level."

"The three of us are eating here tonight," Clint answered.

"You will recall that Miss Potts demands everyone be present for meals on Thursday evening?" Jarvis reminded.

Lucy watched as Barton threw his head back against the couch, demanding, "Tell them I'm sick or something."

"Then they'll all come check on you and discover you lied," the AI pointed out.

"Jarvis?" Barton said, shoving to his feet.

"Yes, Agent Barton?"

"I hate you."

"Would you prefer I not keep you out of trouble with Miss Potts next time?"

"Shut up, you over-glorified robot," Barton groused.

"As you wish."

"What do you desire Lo-Lucy and I do?" Thor asked Barton.

The agent sighed heavily, answering, "The team is going to want to see you, Thor, and I don't trust Angel to be up here by herself."

Lucy rolled her eyes as Barton gestured to her and ordered, "Up, Snow White; it looks like I've got a date to dinner."

"Please tell me you haven't acquired Stark's penchant for nicknames," Lucy requested starting with her brother and Barton towards the elevator.

"Nicknames and mischief, only and especially for you, my old friend."

"Mischief?" Lucy repeated, situating herself so that neither man could see the smirk blooming on her face. "You don't even know the meaning of the word."

"I could still just kill you right now," Barton reminded her.

Lucy shook her head. "You don't kill people who might be, but aren't really, your girlfriend."

Barton caught the reference and smirked for the umpteenth time, saying, "You are nothing like Natasha."

"Oh," Lucy's eyes glimmered. "We'll see."

After all, if he wanted to drive her up the wall by making them out to be the very best of friends, who was she to do anything less than return the favor?

It was with this thought firmly in mind – not the fact that she was about to be in the same room with a bunch of people who each wanted to kill her – that she stepped into Tony Stark's dining room behind Thor and Barton. Apparently they were the last ones to arrive, and it took a second for anyone to notice their entrance. When Stark did take notice, the attention, per the norm, was immediately directed towards Thor.

"Point Break!" Tony was the first to speak, beckoning the demigod into the room with a wide grin. "I can't say we were expecting to see you for awhile. What brings you into town?"

"Ah, I wanted to see how reconstruction of the city was going."

"Well, it's nice to have you back," Steve said warmly, standing and offering his hand to Thor.

"Glad to return," Thor said, shaking hands and smiling warmly as he sat down at the table.

Lucy slid in beside him and Barton flopped himself down beside her. She almost jumped when she noticed Agent Romanoff staring at her from directly across the table.

Sitting beside Romanoff, across from Thor, Rogers cleared his throat when he noticed the redheaded agent's glare and asked, "Who's our guest?"

"Lucy Saint," Lucy said, speaking up before either of the boys could. "I'm an old friend of Clinton's."

"Clinton?" Stark repeated, looking at Barton with an amused arch of his eyebrows.

"I told you, Lucy Goosy," Clint said in a stage whisper, although she was close enough to notice his gritted teeth. "I don't go by my full name anymore."

"Sorry," she looked out at their audience, saying sweetly with wide eyes, "It's been absolutely forever since we've seen each other, but, my goodness, when I saw about the alien attack on the news, I just _had _to come make sure he was okay!"

"Of course," Miss Potts said with a friendly smile. "Where did you say you were from?"

"Waverly, Iowa. Clint and I were neighbors up until he moved when we were six. We were in the same class in school together and everything, best friends; it broke my poor little heart the day he moved!" Moving on impulse, she wrapped her arms tightly around Barton's shoulders, gushing, "But we're finally together again!"

She could practically feel herself loosing brain cells over how giddy she was pretending to be. Then she remembered Barton's "romantic tension" clause and quickly retracted her death grip on him, making herself blush.

She stammered, looking at him through her eyelashes, "Not that I mean anything important by it, because we're… you know… we're friends, but I'm just _so _excited to see him again!" Her hands flew up to her mouth as she added, "And in one piece! Oh, you cannot _imagine _the way that I felt when I saw that first news piece!" She made herself tear up and brushed at them as she said in a choked up voice, "Oh my gosh, Clint; I thought you were _dead_!"

Clint gave an awkward, thin-lipped smile, saying, "You know me better than that, Lucy; can't get rid of Clint Barton that easily."

"Oh, I know, but I felt so _helpless_!" Lucy looked right across the table at Agent Romanoff as she wiped away a few more forced tears and smiled shakily.

Giddiness shot through her when she saw that Agent Romanoff's eyes were glassy and the other woman smiled at her and went so far as to take one of Lucy's pale hands in her own. She was manipulating the manipulator! Oh yes! Lucy was definitely winning this round!

"I know how you feel, Lucy," Miss Potts offered. "I was on my flight home from Washington, D.C. when I saw the news. Knowing that Tony was out there was just horrible, especially because he's just absolutely stupid about the things that he does in situations like that!"

Lucy almost smirked. Did Miss Potts know all of what her boyfriend had done and gone through during that battle? Something told her the other woman didn't know the half of it.

"Hey, when did this become about me?" Tony protested loudly.

"It's nice to know that Clint isn't the only stupid one out there," Lucy said with a sniff and a watery laugh.

"Not by half," Pepper said with a role of her eyes.

Lucy smiled. She had manipulated a room full of superheroes, Thor was looking at her like he didn't even know who she was, and she had a feeling that Clint was more ready now than ever to tear her head off. She felt downright powerful.


	5. Chapter 5

"That," Lucy said cheerfully as she stepped back into the elevator beside Clint an hour later. "Was absolute fun." She arched her eyebrows at him asking, "Can we do it again tomorrow?"

Clint stared straight ahead, grinding out, "Shut the heck up. If I told Thor you'd tried to attack me in the elevator and I'd had to go back on my promise in the name of self defense, we both know he'd believe me."

"I was only playing along!" Lucy simpered, batting her eyelashes just to irk him. "Isn't that what you told me to do?"

"You went overboard."

"I gave them details that made it believable!"

"You gave them details _about my personal life_!"

"You mean your full first name?"

"And my hometown!"

"You will recall that you were the one who told me that; that one's on your own head."

"Go visit your d*** daughter," Clint snapped.

Lucy laughed. "It burns you that I beat you at your own game. You're a sore loser, Agent Barton, did you know that?"

"Your neck is scrawny enough to snap in one flick of the wrist, did you know that?"

Lucy snorted, not at all fazed.

Clint decided to try a different tactic, something to at least throw her off of her game a little.

He turned to her and brushed the wavy, raven-colored locks away from her neck, remarking, "Your skin's so pale that you would bruise easily enough, too, if I was in the mood." He stooped down and kissed juncture of her jaw and neck, getting sadistic enjoyment out of her gasp of shock before he growled menacingly in her ear, "You are mine to do with whatever I want. I will win this; you will not. I will own you, I will break you, and when you break I will kill you."

When he straightened up, her eyes were dark and unreadable. The elevator doors opened to his level and Clint gestured for her to go before him.

"There's a bag on the counter for the lady," Jarvis said to him upon their stonily silent entrance.

Clint asked, "What is it?"

"Women's clothing courtesy of Miss Potts."

Clint smirked and marched into the kitchen, ripping open the big paper bag. Blue dress, white gown, a pair of jeans, a pairof yellow shorts, a pair of tan slacks, red t-shirt, purple dress shirt, and under things that he really could've done without seeing.

"Hey, you want to watch a movie?" Clint called out, stuffing the bag onto a corner of the counter.

"Go to Hel!" came the instant reply – from his horribly neglected library, if he didn't miss his mark.

"_Catching Fire_ it is," Clint muttered, throwing some popcorn into the microwave. A few minutes later, he had the popcorn in a bowl and the movie starting as he settled onto the couch and yelled into the apartment, "Get in here, Angel!"

"What?" the irritated woman snapped, emerging from the hallway with a book under her arm.

"Sit," he requested in as welcoming a tone as he could manage for her, slapping the couch space beside him.

Lucy settled into a recliner, trying to pretend that she wasn't as wary as they both knew she was, asking dryly, "Is this the part of the show where you take advantage of me, Agent Barton?"

"Nope, this is the part where Gale and Katniss are talking in the woods."

She rolled her eyes and buried her nose in the book she had brought in.

"Want some?" Clint asked nicely, offering her the bowl of popcorn.

She wrinkled her nose, giving a definite, "No."

"You ever tried it?"

"No."

"You should."

"Barton," she said impatiently, lowering her book. "We both know that we don't want to have to converse with one another, so let's not. There's no one here to impress."

Clint decided that was the best cue that he was going to get, so he sighed and lied in a convincingly ashamed tone, "I'm trying to say sorry. I shouldn't have snapped like that in the elevator."

"But you meant what you said and we both know it."

Clint didn't deny it, asking instead, "Can we just agree to coexist?"

"Can you agree to do so in silence?"

Clint rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the movie. Lucy curled her legs up into the recliner, and that was that. When the movie ended, Clint took his popcorn bowl into the kitchen sink and grabbed the gown while he was in there.

"Here," he said, throwing it at Lucy.

She looked disdainfully at the garment, asking, "What's that for?"

"Bed. Arguing will not work this time."

They had a stare-off for a long minute before she sighed, set her book aside, and stood up, stalking down the hallway to change as she muttered another string of Norse curses. She ducked into the bathroom, so Clint changed in his bedroom, opting for a plain gray t-shirt and black sleep pants.

When he was changed, he went in search of Lucy, finding her sitting at the mirror in the spare bedroom, trying to untangle her mussed hair and still muttering obscenities under her breath.

"How do women deal with this much of an infernal rat's nest?" she growled.

"With a hairbrush?" Clint guessed, leaning against the doorframe with a grin.

"Only to wake up and have to do it all over again."

"Are you telling me that your usual slicked back style didn't take three hours?"

"I had someone to do it for me – as befits a future king such as myself!"

"And we see how that worked out for you."

"Shut up, Barton."

"You know, you could just try braiding it."

"What? Like that Katniss character?"

"Why not?" Clint shrugged.

"Do you know how impossible that would be to do on my own?"

Clint sighed, standing erect as he said, "I don't deal well with people who are determined to whine their way through life."

"I'll keep that in mind," Lucy growled, glaring at him.

Clint moved to sit on the bed and ordered, "Come here."

"Why?"

"Do you want help with your rat's nest or not?"

"From you?" Lucy asked, raising her eyebrows. "No."

"I wasn't actually _asking_ you what you want. Come. Here. And sit. Down."

Another deep sigh worked its way through the blue-eyed woman as she moved to sit in front of him on the bed. "This is stupid, Barton."

"I'm trying to help here, Angel," Clint protested, gathering the black hair into his hands.

"You're trying to get under my skin."

"Is it working?" She didn't answer, so Clint asked, "What are you planning on doing tomorrow?"

"Killing you."

"What time? I'll have to know so I can coordinate it with when I poke Banner so that he can avenge me. According to Stark, his side is actually very ticklish."

"Speaking of Stark, quit channeling him."

"What?" Clint asked.

"You have been acting like Stark; I'm sure it's Stark you're emulating. Even you aren't naturally this annoying, let alone this talkative."

So they were together in silence until Clint finished his decidedly sloppy braid. He tugged on the braid until she moved her head so that her neck was once again exposed to him and he kissed her in the same spot he had on the elevator.

"Good night, Angel. Sleep well; I'll most likely kill you in the morning."

So saying, he stood and left her for his own room, wondering if Lucy would recognize the altered line from _The Princess Bride._


	6. Chapter 6

"Agent Barton." It was two in the morning, yet Clint was instantly wide awake when Jarvis spoke quietly into his room. "You asked me to tell you if the woman left her room. As you predicted she would, she is trying to activate the elevator."

"Lucy," Clint corrected, springing out of his bed and going silently down the hallway.

Lucy was standing in front of the elevator, repeatedly slamming the button that would open the doors – if Clint hadn't told Jarvis to disable the elevator's use at his level, that was. He stepped up behind Lucy, slipping his hand over the button, and she jumped, realizing that she'd been caught.

"I wouldn't advise doing that," he said flatly.

"I…" Lucy scrambled to find something to say. "Wanted to get some fresh air."

"Roof's that way, up a flight of stairs," Clint said, nodding towards an inconspicuous door on the other side of the room. "Stark gave me the highest level, and it's a lot easier to access Mother Nature that way than by going down through the elevator. Problem with that is, the only way you get out of this tower via the roof is by jumping off and – in your current form – that would be suicide." Lucy didn't say anything. "I'm not stupid. Get back in bed and we can pretend this didn't happen."

"I think I'd prefer suicide," she muttered.

"Hey, I couldn't care less whether you live or die, but I don't want to have to tell Thor that I lost you and you're free to the world. You do realize, right, that you can't leave earth? You have no magic, no means, and I'm pretty sure the only things you own are in that bag from Pepper. If you took it with you when you ran, you might be able to sell what's in it for twenty dollars, if you're lucky. After that money ran out, the only thing that you'd have left to sell is your own body, and I'm pretty sure that's not what Odin had in mind when he sent you here like this, am I right, Angel?"

Lucy just glared at him for another long moment before ducking under his arm and going back to her room.

"Lock her in, Jarvis," Clint ordered, heading back to his own bedroom while steam started rolling off of him.

"Perhaps the objective here ought to be to lock you out, sir?" Jarvis asked. "For the sake of Lucy's safety?"

Clint decided it was okay to be childish at the moment and pulled the covers of his bed all the way over his head as he answered, "Shut up, you stupid robot."

* * *

"Let me out of this room, you idiotic, worthless AI!"

Although Clint didn't generally like being woken up, when it was to the dulcet sounds of Lucy screaming at Jarvis, he found he didn't mind so much.

"Go ahead, Jarvis. Better yet, tell her you'll let her out if she'll make breakfast for me," Clint muttered, crawling out from underneath his covers.

"I doubt she knows how to cook, Agent Barton."

"Not the point."

"As you wish."

"Thanks; just warn me if you think she's tried to poison my food."

By the time Clint was dressed and heading down the hallway, that wasn't an issue, since the smoke alarm was already going off.

"Morning, Angel," Clint said, trying not to crack a smile as he noticed how much smoke was rolling around his stove. Apparently Lucy in the kitchen could work better than coffee some mornings at the "putting Clint in a good mood" factor. "You know that's not really how cooking is supposed to work."

"It was the stupid eggs' fault!" Lucy growled.

Clint crept over to the stove and looked into the pan full of something that was unrecognizably crispy, asking, "Those were eggs?"

"Once upon a time."

"Why are they green?"

"They did that on their own, you have my word."

Clint almost choked he had to try so hard not to laugh. "Is that even possible?"

"Ask the eggs! I don't cook, Barton."

"Obviously," Clint said, transferring the pan into the sink and grabbing a chair so that he could reach the blaring smoke alarm on the ceiling. Reveling for a second in the sudden silence once the alarm was off, he then jumped from the chair to the floor and said, "I guess you can always try again tomorrow morning."

"You're kidding," she said darkly.

"We'll see," Clint shrugged. "For today, it looks like we're back to my old faithful."

He went to the cabinet and pulled out a box of cereal.

As Lucy poured herself a bowl, she informed him, "You are a horrible person; I am not your servant."

"Actually, you are, and if I have to put up with you being here, then I will be taking full advantage of that fact."

"I have to put up with you too!"

"You tried to kill me."

"You want to kill me."

"Yeah, you started it; now I get to finish it."

"That's childish."

"That's karma."

"I think karma hates me."

"Well, welcome to what I like to call 'real life,' where we hate our dinner companions, have bad hair days, make our own breakfast, and generally don't like our lives."

Lucy rolled her eyes.

"What are you going to do today?" Clint asked.

"Stay in my prison, I assumed."

"I've got to go into work, but Jarvis and Thor are always here with eyes open. The library is all yours if you want it. I have less than no purpose for that place, but Pepper told me I couldn't turn it into a target practice room."

"Prudent of her, I'm sure."

"I'd like to see you shoot an arrow and make a perfect bull's-eye at sniper's length away."

"That's not what I meant; stop being so touchy."

"_I'm _touchy?" Clint said. "_I_ am not the hormonal woman in this room."

"Shut up, Barton."

And he did. Life with Lucy was fun for him when he could get under her skin, but it was so much easier in silence, and since it wasn't even seven in the morning, he could definitely choose to do "easier" at the moment.


	7. Chapter 7

Lucy hated Clint Barton. She hated having him around, she hated him calling her "angel" when they both knew very well he didn't mean it, and she absolutely wanted to kill him for the way he kept kissing her neck.

She grit her teeth when he did exactly later on in the morning as he left.

"Be good, Angel; Jarvis will report back to me," he said as the elevator doors closed behind him when he started off to work.

Lucy rolled her eyes and turned from the closed elevator. Feeling the cotton swish around her calves as she turned, she looked down in despair at the gown she was wearing before making a decision and trooping into Barton's bedroom. She stole an outfit – _did the man own anything that wasn't black?_ – and changed, seriously considering taking a butcher knife to her hair instead of having to brush it. But then, she had a feeling that Barton at least _didn't mind_ her hair, and if she played her cards right, there might be that slim chance that she could use it as a feminine asset in this house of men.

Not that she didn't absolutely shudder at the idea, of course, but it was a card that she now had in her arsenal if it was needed. Right now, being basically helpless, she needed every card she could get since she was so far behind enemy lines.

So she spent far too long brushing out the black waves, momentarily wondering why her feminine version had nearly waist-length hair when her masculine version's was nowhere near that long. It was just a trick of the spell, she assumed, shrugging it off.

Once she decided that she had improved upon the looks of Lucy-just-out-of-bed, she grabbed the book that she had started reading the night before and decided to read on the roof, out in the sunshine. When she emerged into the bright light, she blinked until her eyes adjusted and then did it a few more times when she realized what she was seeing. She hadn't paid a lot of attention when coming here with Thor yesterday, but now the devastation below her hit her in full. It had been nearly a month since the battle, and since then all the streets had been cleared of rubble, but she could still see numerous buildings that – had they not been completely totaled – were missing everything from a few windows to entire floors.

That's when the idea struck her, and she decided to see if Barton had left the elevator able to be used. Discovering that he had, she told Jarvis to take her to her brother and the AI dropped her off at Thor's level of the tower.

"Thor," she called out, still unaccustomed to the sound of her own voice.

She called for him a couple more times before locating him in his bedroom, still dead to the world.

Rolling her eyes, she yanked the covers roughly away from him, ordering, "Get up, you lazy waste of space; I want to go back to Asgard."

"Impossible," Thor muttered, still mostly asleep as he tried to reclaim his bedcovers.

"I think I know a way to make it happen quicker," Lucy offered.

Thor finally realized he was fighting a losing battle and sat up groggily, asking gruffly, "How?"

"I want to help with the cleanup and reconstruction of the city."

"How good of you," her brother said, starting to slide back into sleep.

"Not because I'm feeling any sudden burst of goodwill, you idiot, but if I act like I am, I might be able to go home sooner."

"Have fun."

"Barton's at work; you have to come with me. It's not like you don't know how to swing a hammer."

"Not now."

Lucy huffed as Thor's breathing evened out again. She turned on her heel and stomped into the kitchen, locating a gallon pitcher and dumping most of the contents of the icemaker into it. No one was going to tell the god – _goddess?_ – of mischief that she didn't know how to get people onto their feet.

Thor woke up spluttering and shouting and grasping for Mjolnir. And Lucy just started laughing. She laughed until her sides hurt and she was doubled over, and it felt _good_. She loved to laugh, but since getting involved with the Chitauri, she certainly hadn't been doing much of it. She had missed it, she realized, as Thor stumbled out of bed and around his room, pulling on clothes, glaring, and swearing at her in their mother-tongue.

Lucy was still smiling at her brother when he was finally ready to go and she asked him cheerfully, "Are you ready to go turn me into a good Samaritan?"

"I would rather have done it after another hour's rest," Thor groused, still determined to be cranky.

"Oh, cheer up, _Point Break_," Lucy said, stepping with him into the elevator.

"Reindeer Games," Thor shot back.

"It's eternally better than being 'Angel,'" Lucy pointed out.

"'Angel'?" Thor repeated, looking surprised.

"I think Barton's decided that's his official name for me."

"You are supposed to be falling in love with him," Thor pointed out, suddenly in a good enough mood to be fighting his own grin.

Lucy flipped her hair back over her shoulder, batting her eyelashes at Thor with a faux coy smile. "Only in his most secret dreams."

Thor chuckled. "How have you and the Hawkeye been faring, b… sister?"

"We keep both of our mouths shut or we argue; he watches movies and I read books."

"How delightful," Thor said with a dry smile.

"It's Barton," Lucy said with a dismissive roll of her eyes. "What else did you expect?"

Thor paused before admitting, "A bloodbath."

"That's on tomorrow's to do list," Lucy deadpanned.

When she noticed that her brother didn't realize she didn't actually mean it – at least she didn't mean it _right now_ – she allowed a malicious smile to curve the corners of her mouth upward for Thor's benefit – mostly.


	8. Chapter 8

"Where have you been?" Clint asked sharply the moment Lucy stepped off of the elevator later that evening.

"Thor and I were working in the city," Lucy answered.

Clint looked incredulous as he asked, "Doing what?"

"Cleanup." Clint raised his eyebrows and she muttered, "Stupidest idea _ever_."

"Why?"

"Why did I suggest it? To make a good impression on Odin. Why was it a stupid idea? I am an intellectual, not a carpenter, and I am now in pain."

"Poor mortal," Clint snorted. "Tomorrow we can leave you in the lab with Banner instead."

"I suspect I might enjoy that," Lucy admitted. "I know it would be better that what we did today."

"Work's good for you."

"Every muscle in my body is about to snap in two. How is that good for anyone?"

"You'll be fine, Angel," Clint said dryly. "Cheer up; we've got plans."

"'Plans'?" Lucy repeated warily.

"Apparently Stark was whining for a night on the town since it's Friday, but Pepper told him no because we're still trying to let things simmer down from what you caused. Instead she suggested a group movie night on Stark's level, and our presence is once again demanded."

Lucy groaned, demanding, "Tell them I send my deepest apologies, but alas, I cannot move, nor do I intend to do so for the rest of the weekend."

"Not going to happen, Angel," Clint replied. "Go take a shower and put on some of the clothes from that bag on the kitchen counter, then we'll leave. And no more stealing my clothes; you're supposed to convince them that you've been a woman for your entire life. You keep dressing like that and they're going to become convinced you're swinging for the other team."

Lucy cocked her head to the side, her eyes glittering with mischief as she said, "That would be an interesting twist in the life saga of Lucy Saint. I wonder if I could get Agent Romanoff to play along with me?"

"No," Clint answered. "Tasha's genuinely happy to finally have the real attentions of a decent guy like Cap, and if you mess with that for her, you're going to wish you had killed me when you had the chance."

"By the gods, Barton," Lucy muttered, turning to go into the kitchen. "I was just kidding. I am entirely content to fall head over heels for your desperate self for as long as I am here."

Clint rolled his eyes and flopped down on the couch to wait for her to get ready. Lucy was turning out to be a good woman – making him wait and testing his patience and driving him out of his mind. What else was a guy supposed to expect from a girl?

Twenty minutes later, Lucy reemerged wearing the jeans and t-shirt from Pepper, her hair pulled up in a ridiculously messy topknot.

"Ready, Angel?" he asked, jumping up from the couch.

"No," she griped.

"Glad to hear it," he said, gesturing for her to go ahead of him into the elevator. When the doors closed behind them, he asked, "Are you going to be airhead Lucy again?"

"I wasn't 'airhead' Lucy; that was 'overly-excited' Lucy."

"What are you going to be tonight? I demand to know in advance."

"'In pain' Lucy," she groused.

"Why don't you just take pain meds and shut up? Wasn't it your bright idea to go do cleanup in the first place?"

"Yes, but I didn't realize how much _weaker _the mortal female form is!"

Clint smiled. "Do not let Natasha hear you say that; your death will be slow and painful if she does."

"I think I've gotten used to the idea of that sort of death – especially if these rebuilding things are the sort of projects the All-Father expects from me in order to let me go back to Asgard and for me to be given my powers back. At best, I'll most likely die trying to meet his expectations."

"You're depressing," Clint accused.

Lucy snorted, "And you're not?"

"I had my brain played with. What's your excuse?"

Lucy cocked her head to the side and looked at him, asking, "Do you know how I communicated with the Chitauri?"

Clint shook his head.

The elevator doors opened then, and Lucy offered only, "I thought not."

"Why does it matter?" Clint asked, his curiosity now piqued.

"I'll tell you later," she muttered, automatically stretching a smile across her face when the duo ran into Pepper in the hallway.

"Lucy!" Pepper beamed. "We were just wondering if you'd still be here!"

"Actually, I was wondering if I might stick around a bit longer than I planned to," Lucy admitted. "I don't have any family or a job back in Waverly anymore, and reconnecting with Clint has just been so nice…"

"I'm okay with it if Clint is," Pepper said with a grin, guiding the duo towards Stark's entertainment room.

"Do you think Mr. Stark will mind?" Lucy asked, feigning her nervousness as she looked at Pepper.

"Please, call him Tony, and not at all; he won't mind! The more, the merrier, according to him. Besides, even if he did mind, I can talk him into pretty much whatever I want."

Lucy leaned into Pepper with a mischievous grin on her face, the very picture of shared womanhood as she said quietly with laughter in her eyes, "I expected as much."

Pepper looped arms companionably with Lucy and they went into the entertainment room together, suddenly laughing like old friends. Clint, on the other hand, fought the sudden desire to vomit.

And that was even before Clint realized what series Stark had chosen to have them watch tonight. It wasn't Stark's normal choice of video entertainment, and Clint knew that it had to be an entirely pointed move.

"Legolas and company are here!" Stark called out.

Apparently he and Lucy were once again the last ones to show up, because the others flooded the room then. Steve sat on one side of a couch and Natasha lay down with her head in Cap's lap, draping herself languidly along the length of the rest of the piece of furniture. Stark and Pepper took over the loveseat, and Banner and Thor each claimed a recliner. Clint crouched on one half of the window seat, and was a little surprised when Lucy came over and folded her lithe frame into the other half.

"Hey, look at that," she said, jabbing his knee with her elbow and pointing to the computer screen. "_I Love Lucy_."

"Go figure," Clint muttered, glaring at nothing in particular.


	9. Chapter 9

"You have seen this show before, right?" Natasha asked, turning her head to look at him when she caught the edge in his tone.

"Sure, I think so." But he still didn't have to be happy about Stark's perceived little jab.

"Hey," Stark said in self-defense. "I just felt like having a nice evening, one that was at least full of love, since we couldn't actually go out. So I put on this show and maybe I even invited a couple of people over."

"A couple of people?" Steve repeated skeptically, and everyone knew he was thinking that Stark's 'a couple of people' coming over generally involved getting the word out on social media sites and hiring a DJ.

"Yes," Stark answered with a role of his eyes. "A couple of people." He looked to the doorway of the room, calling out, "Come on in, ladies!"

Clint recognized the first woman who came in, but it took Clint a second to register her as Agent Maria Hill, since she was actually wearing casual, civilian clothing and her hair was falling freely down to her shoulder blades.

"Welcome to the party!" Tony said to Agent Hill before looking at Dr. Banner and saying, "See, I told you I was going to get you a girl."

"I hate you," Banner told Tony flatly. The doctor jumped as he realized how that could've been taken and turned to the agent, reassuring her, "Not you! It's just… me… and 'the other guy'… and Tony being an idiot about it all."

Agent Hill laughed and settled onto the floor beside Dr. Banner's chair. "It's alright; I understand."

"Okay," Stark said with a clap of his hands. "Well, for the record, Goldilocks isn't going to hate me at all."

"And you know that how?" Thor asked suspiciously. "I do not need you to 'get me a girl.'"

"Fine," Stark said vaguely. "Maybe I'll keep her for myself then." Pepper's incredulous "I beg your pardon!" was ignored as Tony introduced grandly. "From straight out of Nowheresville, New Mexico, Dr. Jane Foster, everybody!"

Suddenly Thor was scrambling to his feet and then whirling a laughing brunette around in his arms while wearing a grin that nearly split his face.

"Lady Jane!" Thor said breathlessly, settling the doctor back onto her feet.

He got a twinkle in his eye as he kissed her hand and Dr. Foster laughed again, her hair falling down into her face as she blushd.

Clint looked at Lucy with raised eyebrows, but his bench companion only shook her head and shrugged, just as confused as he was.

"Can I start the real show now, Goldilocks?" Stark asked, his eyes sparkling with merriment.

Thor nodded and went back to his recliner, pulling Dr. Foster directly into his lap.

"Although, wait, there is one more thing that this party needs," Stark declared, surging to his feet.

He returned a couple of minutes later with a twelve-pack of beer, handing one out to everyone.

Lucy and Clint both took one and as soon as Stark was out of hearing range, Clint grabbed the bottle out of Lucy's hands and hissed, "Heck, no, you are not getting drunk! You'll give yourself away in a heartbeat."

"Oh, please," Lucy muttered under breath with a role of her eyes, snatching back her alcohol. "This stuff is like water compared to what we have on Asgard; I will not get drunk off of it."

"You'd better not," Clint muttered, eyeing her warily.

And while no one got drunk, per se – at least not at first – it did make the evening a little more fun. Natasha gave Steve what Clint would later find out was their first kiss as a couple – _seriously, Cap?! _– and it was then that Tony had been inspired to bust out another twelve-pack – or five. And what had started out as Natasha kissing Steve had ended up being – of all things – ten generally sane adults playing spin the bottle. Thank you very much, Anthony Edward Stark.

Had Clint not been more than a little imbibed himself, he would've noticed that Lucy had _lied_; regardless of what she had thought was going to happen, the ebony-haired woman was tipsy at best.

"Who wants to start?" Tony asked excitedly as they all settled on the floor in a circle – even Steve had been dragged in, drunk or not. "Hug 'em in under five seconds, kiss 'em in ten, anything more than that an' you gotta make it a French kiss."

"I will," Jane squealed, leaning forward and spinning the bottle. It landed on Bruce, and with Thor being the only one between them, the two managed to get in a hug before they had to kiss.

Tony let out a whine of disappointment, asking, "Who now? Legolas?"

"Nah…"

"Legolas, Legolas, Legolas!" Tony chanted, getting the others to join in.

Finally Clint sighed and obligingly spun the beer bottle, and then blinked, not sure that he had seen what he thought he had just saw. But there was Tony, sitting with his finger out to stop the bottle so that it had landed on Lucy.

"No fair!" Clint complained.

"I say it goes," Pepper giggled.

"Yeah, Clint," Natasha piped up. "Pucker up, Hawk."

"It's been over ten seconds," Bruce volunteered, and Tony crowed with laughter.

Clint looked at Lucy, seeing that she was smiling at him. When she giggled, he grinned like a dope and crawled across the circle to press his lips against hers, being at once sloppy and possessive with the kiss. After all, why not? She was his, right?

He lifted a hand to fist in her hair – she really had beautiful hair – taking far longer than would've been necessary before he broke the kiss.

She whimpered in protest before whispering against his ear, "You can do better than that, can't you, Barton?"

Some vague and fuzzy part of his brain registered that he shouldn't, that he _really _shouldn't, but he ignored that niggling with ease as he swept her up into his arms and stood, heading for the elevator and his bed without another word to the others, Lucy's laughter surrounding him the whole way.


	10. Chapter 10

Clint awoke to swearing. Angry swearing. Nordic swearing. Lucy's swearing. Lucy swearing while still in the nude.

"What the heck?!" he exclaimed, sitting up in bed far too fast and clutching his head when his entire body protested the movement.

"Spin the bottle," Lucy growled, yanking on her jeans from the night before.

Clint groaned as the memories flooded back to him, and said the first thing that came to mind. "You said you wouldn't get drunk!"

"I was turned into a godforsaken _woman _four days ago; I think I'm allowed to get drunk over that one!"

Clint didn't know what to say to that, so he quickly fell back onto what had quickly become his and Lucy's faithful standby.

"Go to Hel."

"What do we do now?" Lucy growled once she was fully clothed.

"You do whatever you want – within your boundaries; I am going to work," Clint decided, crawling slowly from the bed.

"On a Saturday?"

"There is always work to do at S.H.I.E.L.D. if you want it," Clint said, hastily pulling on his own boxers and jeans.

"You're being a coward. We were drunk, this happened, the world is still spinning."

"Are you really trying to tell me that if you had your powers, you wouldn't have already killed my by now?"

"You were too valuable a lackey for that, and if I had my powers I would have turned you back into my slave the moment I set eyes on you again."

"You know what?" Clint snapped, glaring sharply at her. "Let's just pretend that this never happened. Got it?"

"Agreed; however, I really think you ought to lay back down. If your headache is half as bad as mine, you're going to end up going into work and getting sent on some stupid mission where you will end up shooting blind, and I don't think you want that."

"Because you suddenly have a caring regard for human life?" Clint snorted, turning his back to the stupid woman and yanking a t-shirt out of his dresser.

He missed the guilty look that slipped through Lucy's eyes before she said quietly, "I don't think you like the idea of hurting innocent people, that's all."

"Of course I don't," Clint said, pulling his shirt on and turning back around to face her as he said darkly, "But then you've never been concerned with that before."

So saying, he brushed past her, and was in the doorway before he heard her whisper, "I am sorry."

He froze, literally mid-step, and turned back around to look at Lucy as he asked, "What did you just say?"

Lucy sighed and slumped down onto the end of the bed, looking at her hands. "The things that I saw yesterday with Thor when we went to help repair the city… I did not expect them."

"What do you mean?" Clint asked, moving a couple of steps closer.

"Your people – Midgardians – I think I may understand why Thor likes them so much," she admitted, looking out towards the blue sky outside the bedroom window while her thoughts were obviously even farther away. "I didn't realize the city was in such disarray until I saw it yesterday morning… but there were so many people there, everywhere, ready and willing to help – some still smiling even."

"And?"

"And I killed so many of them, Barton!" Lucy said, flying to her feet and going to stand directly in front of the window, looking out with her back to him. "I ended so many innocent lives, and I don't even know why – not really. Do you know that my original goal in trying to garner power was to gain my father's approval?" He snorted bitterly, adding, "And we see how well that worked."

"Well, apparently this plan – his plan – is working."

"What are you talking about?" Lucy asked, looking at him in confusion as she went back to sit on the edge of the bed.

Clint lowered himself to sit on the bed beside Lucy. "Wasn't the point of Odin sending you here to give you a conscience? Seems like that's working already."

Lucy narrowed her eyes at him, snapping, "Yeah, you tend to regret lots of things the morning you wake up with your arch enemy in your bed."

"Technically, you're in my bed, Angel. Besides, I thought Thor was your arch enemy."

"Thor… is complicated. Really, I don't even know where I stand anymore, Barton. The Chitauri were supposed to be my allies, and they're obviously not. My father _still _dislikes me, my mother's too disappointed in me to even look at me, and in the middle of all of that my dear big brother barely deserves consideration at the moment."

"What about the rest of us?" Clint asked with a half smirk.

"Who?"

"The Avengers."

"They don't even know who I am. If they did, I'd already be dead."

"I know who you are, and you're still breathing."

"For how much longer, though?" Lucy asked dryly.

"Until you do something that gives me a reason to break my promise to Thor."

"Look at us, Barton," Lucy said with a dry chuckle. "You keeping your word and me being heartfelt. What's wrong with us?"

"We're not entirely sober yet, Angel."

"Which brings us back to the real issue here. Stay home or you'll do something you regret."

"If I stay here with you, I might still do something I regret," Clint answered.

Lucy raised her eyebrows, mistaking what he had said as being meant as suggestive of something that would be reminiscent of what they had obviously done in the night. "Like what?"

"No! Wrong train of thought, gutter brain!"

"You're the one who pointed out that we're not sober yet."

Clint shoved himself to his feet, grumbling, "And until we are sober again, I'm going to appease you and go watch movies in the entertainment room. Happy now?"

"Not happy, just less concerned."

"Less concerned for who?" he asked, pulling her to her feet with a smirk.

"All parties involved."

Clint's smirk got worse as he leaned forward and pecked her right on the lips. "Whatever you have to tell yourself, Angel."


	11. Chapter 11

After that, Lucy had less than no idea why she ended up once again settled in the recliner with a book while Barton watched another movie, but it happened. He sprawled leisurely across the couch and offered her some of his popcorn, just like he had on her first night here.

Again, she curled her nose up disdainfully, saying, "That stuff looks disgusting."

"It's just popcorn. You told me you'd never even tried it."

"And I have no intention of ever doing so."

"Stick in the mud."

"Birdbrain."

Barton smirked as he replied, "Angel."

"Hellion."

"Lover."

"I was drunk!" Lucy burst out, springing onto her feet.

"Oh, come on," he complained. "And here I thought we were getting on a role!"

Lucy sighed in aggravation, replying, "The only thing you're getting on, Barton, is my last nerve."

"What are you going to do about it?" he asked with another smirk.

She was beginning to fear that he was going to make that expression a permanent fixture upon his face.

"You seem to forget that my brother will protect me if I ask him to," she pointed out.

"Not necessarily. He and I made a deal, and I think even he's smart enough to realize that aggravating me could mean I break my side of that deal where you're concerned, which we all know he doesn't want."

"And just minutes ago you were being such a man of your word…"

"And you were being a kind, concerned, feeling human being."

"I am none of those things, and you know it – not even a human being, really."

"You're right; that I did know."

"That's not what I meant! And, as you well know, I spent all of yesterday helping your people – and isn't that having humanity?"

"That depends on motive – and yours sucked."

"But I learned something, didn't I? And it's like you said – isn't that the point of this whole thing that Odin did to me?"

"Yes," Barton purred sarcastically. "And I'm very proud of you for being nice. It must have been so hard for you."

"Not as hard as such a thing would be for you," Lucy snapped.

"I can be very nice when I want to be."

"But you couldn't prove that by me."

"Would you like me to?" he asked her with a smirk.

"I would agree if only I thought it were possible."

"Watch it, Angel; I might just kill you yet."

Lucy didn't bat an eyelash as she said, "Now that I don't doubt."

"Of course not," Barton replied, settling more comfortably against the couch cushions as his movie got more interesting than the prospect of further verbal sparring with her.

* * *

However, neither one of them had expected for Lucy to be the one to get the chance to play nice for Barton; she certainly didn't feel like doing it when she was jarred awake at one very early Monday morning.

"What in the name of the gods?" she muttered grumpily, blinking as she tried to identify the noise that she'd heard.

Suddenly a scream split the air.

_Barton?_

Lucy stumbled to her feet and into the agent's bedroom, surprised to see him thrashing madly at his sheets in the dark.

"Jarvis?" Lucy called out.

"Yes, Lucy?"

"Tell Agent Romanoff that Barton requires her assistance."

"Agent Romanoff is with Captain Rogers and they have demanded that they not be disturbed tonight."

"Tell her it's urgent," Lucy growled, still hovering in Barton's bedroom doorway.

"No ma'am. She cut my unit out of her bedroom wall the last time I interrupted her time with the captain, and I don't wish to see the episode repeated."

"Oh, for the love of Odin…" Lucy mumbled, hesitatingly making her way towards the bed of the obviously troubled archer. "Barton," she hissed, hesitantly touching his arm.

He could kill her in an instant, and when in a sleep-induced haze, something told her that he wouldn't hesitate to do so if he got the idea in his head. But then again, there was no telling what he would do if he stayed so upset whilst still unconscious.

"Barton!" she called loudly, shaking him now as she moved to kneel on his bed.

He awoke with a jolt, very nearly falling off of the bed as he howled, "You!"

Lucy took that to mean – "I was the cause of your nightmares, wasn't I, Barton?"

He flipped on his side, turning away from the woman as he muttered, "Not everything is about you… but, in this case, yes, it is your fault. So thanks for that."

"I'm sorry, Barton," Lucy murmured, curling her legs up under herself as she sat on the bed.

"Sure you are, but if you are, it's only because I could kill you. You don't like me; I don't like you, and you're only sorry that you got caught."

"That's not entirely true. Yes, you could kill me, but you're starting to grow on me. It's nice to be able to match wits with someone. For so long, Thor was the only one who would banter with me, and he's not capable of the sarcasm that you possess. I find you very interesting, actually; I think I could perhaps learn to like you. Whether or not you like me is totally out from under my control, and yes, it is a bit depressing when one's evil plot to take over the world is foiled."

"Go away, Lucy."

She ignored him, continuing as if he hadn't spoken when she said, "Although that plan wasn't mine, you know."

He snorted.

"It wasn't! It was the Chitauri who approached me about it, and then they practically used mind control on me to get me to carry it out."

Barton shoved her none too subtly off of the bed and she barely managed to land standing on her own two feet as he ordered gruffly, "Go to bed."

The obscenity of being awake at this hour must be giving her strange ideas, Lucy decided, because she found herself nodding briskly and crawling up under his sheets – while feeling totally sober – without a word.

"What in the d*** h*** do you think you're doing?" he asked sharply, turning only to come nearly nose to nose with her.

"I caused your nightmare, so I'm going to stay with you until I've determined that it won't be coming back tonight. That seems only fair, don't you think?"

Barton glared until he realized she wouldn't be budging, then he sighed in what she thought might be exasperation before turning his back to her once more with a thoroughly disgruntled, "Whatever."

"Thank you," she murmured, kissing the back of his neck before she added, "Now hurry up and go back to sleep."


	12. Chapter 12

Since the morning was a Monday, Lucy assumed would mean Barton returning to his duties at SHIELD. With this in mind, she climbed out of his bed at dawn, quickly changed into day clothes, and made her way into the kitchen. Truth be told, she really did feel at least _slightly _bad for having caused the agent so much trauma, especially coming face to face with it the way she had in the wee hours of the morning. Maybe she could make it up to him in some small way, though… starting with making another attempt at breakfast.

"Jarvis?"

"How may I be of assistance?"

"I need a recipe. Something quick and simple."

"Would pancakes suffice?"

"Perfect." She went to the refrigeration unit and pulled out the package she desired while asking, "And how do I make the pig meat that everyone in your country seems so fond of?"

"You mean bacon?"

"According to the package, yes."

"You would do best to use the microwave; fifteen seconds for a layer on a plate covered in a paper towel."

"And how do I use this microwave?"

And so it went until Barton came striding into the kitchen an hour later, already dressed for work. Lucy, already feeling very proud of herself, laughed out loud when she saw the look on his face as he surveyed the spread.

"Good morning, Barton," she said, still grinning at him.

"I'm sorry," he asked, eyes still gleaming with surprise. "Is this the same Lucy who somehow turned burnt eggs green?"

"I utilized Jarvis' knowledge on the subject of cooking, although I'm afraid most of the pancakes are still burnt."

"And you forgot the coffee," he muttered, his normal inexpressive mask and gruff tone falling back into place as he sat down at the table where she had already placed everything.

"I shall make sure and remember it tomorrow morning," she replied, sitting in the chair across from him as she suddenly realized that he might just actually be _embarrassed _about the side of him that she had seen the night before… and quite possibly what she had done thereafter.

They didn't speak again until he went to leave and she went with him to the elevator.

"I meant what I said about spending time in Banner's lab," she said. "I believe I would enjoy it since Asgardian magic and Midgardian sciences seem so closely related. I thought I might see if he would mind my presence as he works today."

"Fine," he replied. "Don't give yourself away, though."

At that, she very nearly asked him since when had he cared whether or not she was figured out – and thus eliminated – but she decided against it, saying instead, "Alright," and then, "When will you be home?"

"I don't know. Tonight; they're refusing to send me and Nat out on long missions until the Avengers hype blows over."

She nodded, and then decided to beat him to the expected punch. Her niceness this morning was already unsettling him, so why not put the cherry on top? Besides, it wasn't so bad, really…

She pecked him on the cheek, saying, "Be safe, Barton."

The elevator doors opened just then, and he retreated into the metal contraption without a word.

In anticipation of finding Banner, Lucy turned back into the apartment and brushed her teeth and hair, then emerged into the living room only to find her brother sitting tensely on the couch.

"Brother!" Thor said rapidly and habitually, surging nervously to his feet.

Lucy surveyed him calmly, asking, "What's on fire, brother?"

"I…" Thor licked his lips as he settled back onto the edge of the couch. "I find myself remembering things of Friday evening."

Lucy internally took a deep breath, almost instantly getting a headache as she realized why her potentially very overprotective big brother was here. "Oh, do you?"

"Yes," he nodded jerkily. "And I require your assistance in telling me whether or not I remember certain parts correctly."

He must have been much more drunk then she had been, because, painfully enough, she could recall most of the evening with perfect clarity… and the night was even clearer. "How may I be of service, my dear Thor?"

Thor hesitated, his eyes darting nervously to Mjolnir, which he was clutching in his hands for dear life. "Agent Barton…" another pregnant pause, and then, "He forced-"

Lucy's hands flew to massage her temples as she decided to save them both and stop her brother right there, saying sharply "By all the gods, Thor!" she took a deep, calming, breath, before saying in a much more moderated tone, "You have my absolute word on our _mother_, the _only _thing that has been forced during my stay here is my being present while Barton watches far too many archery-centered movies."

"Then I remember that evening incorrectly?" Thor asked in confusion.

She should've told him that yes, he'd ingested far too much alcohol and was, in fact, wrong in his remembrance, but for some reason she didn't, saying instead only, "We were all very drunk." He just kept looking at her, not about to settle for just that as an answer, so she sighed in exasperation and added, "Mistakes were made, but at the time I was perfectly willing to do what we did. Which you should take to mean these two things: firstly, your avenging me will not be necessary on any levels; kindly leave Agent Barton alone, and secondly, you are not ever, ever to speak of it ever again. Do I make myself clear?"

"It shall be as you desire," Thor answered obligingly, though still obviously ill at ease with the situation.

Pitifully enough, her poor brother seemed to be having more trouble settling into the idea of her feminine form than she was.

"Thank you," Lucy answered, trying not to sound as formal as her irritation made her tone come out to be. "Now, while I am truly grateful for your concern for my well being and safety, if you will excuse me, I have plans for the day."

So saying, she left her brother and started towards the elevator and Dr. Banner's lab.


	13. Chapter 13

"Dr. Banner?" Lucy called out as the elevator doors slid open to reveal the sterile room to which Jarvis had directed her.

"Hi," the man replied in surprise from where he was standing at a desk on a wall of the room, abandoning his project to look towards her. "Do you need something?"

"Some company?" Lucy asked, suddenly feeling surprisingly hesitant. "I've always liked magic, and I thought that maybe since science seems so close to magic, I thought I might... watch you work?"

"Hm," Dr. Banner looked back down at his work – probably embarrassed at the attentions of a pretty lady, Lucy guessed – and said, "There won't be much to look at, but you can stick around for as long as you want to… just please don't touch anything."

"Thank you; I'll be very careful," Lucy said, going to stand at his side as she asked, "What is it that you're working on?"

"Um, an upgrade on some weapons; a new idea I had for some stronger bullets for Natasha. After the ammunition in her gun did nothing to even give the Chitauri pause, I thought maybe she could use something a little better than what SHIELD normally provides. Tony's usually better at projects like this, but since Pepper's kept him busy helping her cool down the panicking of the world after the Battle of Manhattan, I thought I'd give it a try."

_Great; all the better for the assassin to eventually kill me with_, Lucy thought drily, though what she said was, "Fascinating. How do they work, if you don't mind my asking?"

And so the morning went. She watched Banner intently, asking questions of him that he was glad to answer as he worked; the man seemed happy that someone was taking an interest in his work – at least someone less irritating than Tony Stark. As she watched and inquired, Lucy mentally put together the pieces of the Midgardians' science – practically rudimentary when compared to the science within magic that she was used to on Asgard – even going so far as to leave Banner seeming surprised at how much she really understood of his work.

At lunch time, the two of them ended up at Banner's level of the house, sitting at the counter with sandwiches and tea, and still talking about this or that within the realm of science.

"You know," Dr. Banner said at a break in the conversation. "No offense, so please don't take this the wrong way, but you seem a lot different that the Iowa farm girl we met Thursday night."

"So I've been told," Lucy said with a breathy chuckle. "I was overly excited to see my old friend at the time."

"Ah," Dr. Banner nodded in understanding. "Well, you seem like a very bright young woman."

Lucy smiled, answering politely, "Thank you."

"Where did you go to school at?"

"Oh… I never attended college. My mother and… father taught me at home."

"They were teachers themselves, then?"

"Not by profession, no, but brilliant all the same."

"You must have a very nice family, then," Dr. Banner said approvingly.

Lucy only smiled timidly, not nearly ready to try and come up with a convincing cover story for that admittedly rather complex area of her life. "What about you?"

"Since the other guy started coming around, I've basically been on my own. Although I guess the Avengers are starting to get themselves together as a group."

"I'd say so," Lucy agreed.

Dr. Banner smiled, "We've all kind of become like Pepper's foster children, and Tony is her eccentric boyfriend that we all live with."

"How do you explain Captain Rogers and Agent Romanoff's relationship within those parameters, then?" she asked with an ornery grin.

"Natasha's the rebellious teenage daughter, I guess, and Steve is her boyfriend, the one that Natasha's crazy father is frequently clashing with."

Lucy laughed. "Fair enough."

Her gaiety turned almost instantly to near panic when she noticed the shrewd way Dr. Banner's eyes had suddenly narrowed upon her as he asked, "And who are you, Lucy Saint?"

"An old friend of Clint's," Lucy managed, trying not to squeak as it was brought back to mind that she not only was technically in the same room with the Hulk, but that said Hulk had also done a fair amount of damage to her in Loki's form as a higher being. He could easily kill her as Lucy if he transformed into the Hulk, which was entirely probable if he found out who she really was. "Actually, speaking of Clint, I just remembered that I was supposed to meet him for lunch," she lied quickly. Just because she had lost her magical powers, that didn't mean that she had lost her "silver tongue." "You'll have to excuse me."

"Of course," Banner said, his eyes getting even darker with suspicion as he watched her spring up and get into the elevator.

When the metal doors closed off the sight of his intense stare, Lucy leaned back against the wall, breathing as heavily as if she had just encountered the green side of the doctor as she considered what had just gone on between her and the man. What in the world had clued him in? She had even tried to be careful in what she said and even how she said it! Had she mentioned some facet of science that was as of yet unfamiliar to Midgard? She didn't think so. Had she let paranoia get a hold of her for a second and simply imagined the look on Dr. Banner's face? No, she _knew_ that wasn't it.

She didn't know how he had figured her out, but one way or another, Dr. Bruce Banner now at the very least suspected that Loki Laufeyson was living among the Avengers in their tower.

While she wasn't about to purposely do anything that even _might_ confirm Dr. Banner's suspicions, she would, of course, have to tell Barton about the doctor's sudden epiphany the moment he got home, and wasn't that just going to be the best of fun?!


	14. Chapter 14

So Lucy decided to do the obvious, easiest thing. She just didn't tell Clint that Banner was on to her. As the next couple of months passed, it was never an issue, so her own concern diminished into near nothingness, and they went on with their lives.

Living in New York – even living with Barton… or Clint, as he had at some point become to her – actually became something near unto pleasant for Lucy. They developed little habits, both consciously planned by the two of them and unspoken, that made their lives easier and even… nice…ish. She was pretty sure that she could've become flat-out enamored with her new living situation – maybe even including the girls' nights that Pepper and Jane had dragged her, Maria, and Natasha out on – were it not for the fact that she had started feeling so strange.

As Asgardians – and apparently the Jotun, as well – had a better immune system then Midgardians, Lucy wasn't accustomed to being ill, and tried her best to ignore it and go about her days. However, the day that Clint came home from a mission when she hadn't been told he was once again stateside only to find her clutching the toilet bowl like it was her new best friend was the day that he ordered her directly into bed and her ruse came to an end.

Still curled up on the bathroom floor, slowly easing away from her death grip on the toilet, Lucy protested, lying, "I'm fine, Clint! I just ate something that didn't agree with me; I'll be better by lunch time." So long as the smell of the food that she chose didn't turn her stomach.

Clint raised his eyebrows at her, standing in the doorway as he asked, "Jarvis, what did Lucy have for breakfast this morning?"

"Toast."

"How the heck does toast not settle well, Angel?" Clint asked, the nickname somehow having become much less offensive in the days before he had left for his mission. "You are sick, and you're going to bed until I can get Dr. Banner up here to take a look at you. How long have you been feeling like this?"

In truth, it had started nearly six weeks ago, but hadn't gotten bad until the last week and a half while Clint had been gone off to "It's Classified, Africa."

"Just since yesterday. And _I am fine_."

Clint sighed at her stubbornness and moved into the bathroom. The sound she made was something that might have been a squeal of outrage as he far and away invaded her personal space and scooped her into his arms only to carry her into his bedroom.

One habit that had started without a comment or even a word between them: since that first time he'd had a nightmare, she'd slept beside him nightly, and they both knew she would be more comfortable in his bed than the one that was in "her room."

Lucy huffed as Clint unceremoniously dropped her onto the bed. "I would say 'welcome home,' but now I'm not sure whether or not I'm glad you're back."

"I'm glad enough for the both of us," Clint said, leaning over the bed to give her a kiss.

Those had managed to become much less offensive too. By now Lucy had just decided that she'd just become so accustomed to the routine of it all, that she had learned not to let it bother her. That was the easiest explanation, right?

"I guess I am too," Lucy decided with a small smile as he broke the contact.

"I thought so," Clint agreed. "I'm going to go get the doc."

"Please don't!" Lucy said, panic slashing through her as she desperately grasped Clint's wrist.

She might not have been born a female, but she wasn't stupid, and she knew very well that she wasn't "sick" per se, but so long as she had no real proof, she didn't have to admit what was truthfully going on inside her body – not even to herself.

"Lucy, stop," Clint said sharply, jerking his arm from her hold. "You can't get better unless we know what's going on. So, if you haven't already talked to a doctor – and we both know full well you haven't – I'm getting Banner. It's just Dr. Banner, Lucy."

"I don't care! I don't want any doctors!" she screamed at him, suddenly feeling more panic and helplessness than she ever had since being cast into Midgard.

"Okay, you're acting like me or Banner is going to kill you, Angel; you need to calm down. Now."

Lucy took a deep breath, forcing herself to do as he'd demanded and softened her tone, positively begging, "Please, Clint, don't do this."

He shook his head at her, still clueless as to why she was so near panic as he repeated, "It'll be fine."

But it wouldn't be. Lucy knew, she just _knew _that as soon as Clint got Bruce Banner up here, reality was going to kill this fragile life that she had built here with the Avengers, in particular with the man that she was admittedly coming to love. She reached for him again, trying one more time to stop him from doing what would essentially steal her happiness and quite possibly his, but she fell just short, her fingertips barely brushing his wrist as he strode from the room, already inquiring of Jarvis if Dr. Banner was in his lab.

The doctor wouldn't be surprised by Clint's request for Banner to examine her, Lucy knew. The "mindless beast making play he was still a man" had kept a sharp eye on her, especially during Clint's absence, and he had noticed – she suspected Thor had as well – that she was not feeling up to par. While Lucy knew that the thought had yet to cross her brother's mind, she also suspected that Dr. Banner suspected her… condition. And Valhalla help them all, she could hear him exiting the elevator with Clint right at that moment.


	15. Chapter 15

"Hi there," Dr. Banner said quietly, leaning against the door once he had closed it behind himself, leaving Lucy alone with him. "So, what are we going to do about this?" When Lucy didn't answer him, he added, "I didn't tell on you yet, if that's what you're worried about."

"I don't know what you mean," Lucy said, putting on a calm façade and hoping he bought it.

He smirked down at his shoes and snorted as he took off his glasses – always with the glasses; they must be a tick to keep his heart rate down – and said, "So you're one of those people."

Which meant that he wasn't about to buy into the lie she'd just told him.

She repeated again, "I don't know what you mean."

He looked at her then as he walked slowly towards the bed, watching her shrewdly as he said, "This baby inside of you… this monster you've given life to… you're in denial of it."

Lucy almost smiled at that. He really had no idea how many monsters she had inside of her… no one besides Thor knew of her Jotun genes. Though she had no intention of changing that, she was well aware that carrying this child to term might just be the death of that plan.

"And don't tell me you don't know what I mean," Dr. Banner ordered, standing by the bedside now.

So she said the second thing that had come to mind, admittance though it really was – "My child is not a monster."

"And which child is that?" he asked with another smirk. "The one you're currently carrying? Maybe Hel or Sleipnir? No… I bet you mean Fenrir."

Lucy began to shiver, though with rage or fear, she honestly couldn't tell. She nearly sprang up out of the bed as she ordered sharply, "Do _not _bring my children into this!"

"But isn't that what this so-called examination I'm supposed to be doing is all about?" the doctor asked, gesturing with his glasses to her midsection.

"Neither one of us knows if that's how it is," she objected.

He raised his eyebrows at her then sighed, digging the last thing she expected to see out of his pocket and dropping it onto the bed. "I bought it last week, just in case you got a grip and came looking for one in the lab. You want to know if 'that's how it is'? Go ahead."

"You're insane."

He looked her straight in the eye and asked without batting an eyelash, "And which one of us is it that tried to subjugate the planet?"

Lucy hated him right then. Really she did… but five minutes later she hated herself even more as she stared at that stupid positive sign. Forget facing Dr. Banner where he waited on the other side of that bathroom door; how in the name of all the gods was she supposed to tell Clint she was carrying his child?

But then… did she even have to? Eventually, yes, but at the moment it wasn't like they were exactly all over each other; she could go for at least a few more months without telling him if she wanted to. And gods knew she wanted to do just that; she wanted to ignore the whole problem and curl up under the covers of Clint's bed and go to sleep, waking up only when this nightmare was over – maybe only once she was back to being Loki of Asgard…

In the mean time, Dr. Bruce Banner was still waiting for her to reemerge in the bedroom and tell him the results of the test. She had never wanted to teleport somewhere else – _anywhere_ else – so badly in all of her life.

"Loki?" Dr. Banner called out from the other side of the door. "Those results have shown up already, I know they have."

"My name is Lucy Saint!" she snapped back at him. "And if you know what's good for you, you'll leave before I open this door!"

At that, Dr. Banner opened the door himself and stuck his head in, inquiring cheekily, "Because when both of us are backed into a corner, you're always the one who wins those fights, right?"

Lucy flinched, remembering the beating the Hulk had given her during the battle of Manhattan. At the thought, her hand subconsciously went to her abdomen to protect what was currently nestled comfortably beneath her heart. If the Hulk delivered the same thrashing to her here when she was in this condition, it would most likely be the end of the life inside of her, and she wasn't sure whether she wanted that or not. It was better safe than sorry, so she shot him a heated glare and shoved past him to leave the bathroom where she had been sitting on the toilet lid.

"Go to Hel," she muttered under her breath.

"What'd you say?"

Lucy smiled tightly at him, requesting, "Please leave my apartment."

"It's not yours; it belongs to Tony who has given it to Agent Barton, and I can't."

"And just why can't you?"

"Because – for one thing – I am not about to leave you here, by yourself, after this pregnancy revelation, when you could possibly become suicidal. For another thing, we still have a couple of things to discuss."

"Like what?" Lucy asked with a temperamental sigh as she settled on the foot of the bed.

"Like do you want an ultrasound? Tony's got all sort of tech here that he has no use for, including an ultrasound machine, just because he has the money for it."

"Are you sure you want to see this child, doctor?" Lucy asked dryly. "The first time I was in something resembling this position, an eight-legged horse is what you would've seen."

"Then that depends on whether or not you want to know how many legs this kid has. Tony's gone to a press conference with Pepper at the moment, so we'd have the lab to ourselves if we can get past your Agent Barton."

"He's not my anything," Lucy snapped irritably.

Though if she had thought about it, she would've realized that wasn't true, not exactly. They were certainly _something _now, neither one of them was just entirely willing to label it, to try to contain it.

"He's the father of your child, isn't he?" Dr. Banner asked.

Lucy sighed, deciding that, yes, that label would suffice for now.


	16. Chapter 16

"You requested my presence, Heimdall?" Odin said by way of greeting as he strode up to the guardian of the Bifrost.

"Yes, my king. It's Loki."

"What of him? Has his illness grown worse?"

Heimdall sighed. "His mortal female form is with child."

Odin nearly groaned. "By whom?"

"The mortal that is called Hawkeye, Clint Barton."

"The one he took control over?" Odin asked in surprise.

"It appears to me that they are beginning to truly care for one another, my lord."

"You don't mean to tell me that my child fancies himself in love with this Hawkeye, do you?"

Odin really didn't know how much more grief he could take from his adopted child.

"I'm afraid so."

"And who of the others in the house know who Lucy truly is?"

"Only Dr. Banner, Hawkeye, and Thor know for certain."

"Very well. Once the others discover the truth, Lucy will doubtlessly be cast out of the house or, as is more likely, killed, and this business with Clint Barton will be over."

Odin turned away from his gatekeeper and went on his way, knowing he could only hope it would be that simple.

* * *

"Clint?"

Clint's eyebrows drew together when he looked up from where he was cleaning his arrows on the living room couch to see Lucy shuffle nervously from the elevator later that afternoon.

"What's wrong, Angel?" he asked instantly, putting his arrows and quiver aside as Lucy perched nervously on the edge of the couch beside him.

"I… we need to talk."

Clint nodded encouragingly, saying, "Okay, I'm listening."

The ebony-haired beauty beside him took a deep breath, not meeting his eyes as she said softly, "I am not sick."

"We've been over this, Lucy," Clint huffed. "What did Dr. Banner have to say?"

"No, that's what I mean. I'm not sick… I'm expecting."

"Expecting what?" Clint asked obliviously. "Test results? Is that where you were; Banner was running some tests in the lab?"

"I'm expecting a _child_, Clint," Lucy said before whispering, "Yours."

He froze before finally gasping out, "A kid?" His voice rose a few octaves. "_My _kid?"

"Well," Lucy stammered falteringly. "It's not… I don't think it's exactly… a child."

"What is it then?" Clint barked, springing onto his feet. "Another sea snake? Maybe a phoenix – wouldn't that be interesting? Or it could be-"

"A Jotun," Lucy broke in, looking up at him with pitiful cerulean blue eyes. "There were inconsistencies in Banner's observations of the child that make me believe he or she is a Jotun."

"What the heck is a Jotun?" Clint asked sharply.

"I… I believe I could show you if you promise not to get upset."

"Not get upset?" Clint snorted. "Lucy, if I get any more upset, one of us is going to die."

Lucy opened her mouth to say something, but the opening of the elevator cut her off and Thor walked in, his hammer swinging idly from his wrist as he looked warily at the way that Clint was towering angrily over his little sister.

"You're just in time to see the show, brother," Lucy said, glancing past Clint towards Thor.

"You asked him to come here, didn't you?" Clint asked her.

"I didn't want either of us to get hurt," Lucy answered. "I haven't been entirely honest with you, Clint."

"That's shocking," Clint snorted.

"I'm not truly an Asgardian by birth; I'm a Jotun. My father took away my Asgardian powers, but left my Jotun side alone because he knew I would die sooner than use it… and so this is what a Jotun looks like."

Lucy took a deep breath and in the next instant, Clint was standing nose to nose with a tall, blue, freezing cold freak.

"What is that thing?" he rasped.

"A Jotun," Lucy answered meekly.

"So… this kid… is going to look like… that?"

"Some variation of it, most likely, although not necessarily," Lucy replied, and it was then that Clint realized that the red eyes that he'd caught a glimpse of had yet to meet his gaze. "My father put a spell on me so that I looked like any normal Asgardian. Perhaps he could be convinced to put a spell on the baby to make it look like any other mortal."

"Why?" Clint asked suddenly, his anger seeping away, giving place to the much less potent emotion of curiosity as he settled back onto the couch beside Lucy.

Those red eyes flew to his blue ones then, filled with surprise as she repeated incredulously, "_Why_?"

"Yes, _why_."

He suddenly realized that he couldn't be angry with her. This child was as much his fault as hers, so what right did he have to yell at her over it? He would consider that later, he decided, because right now it was Lucy herself who apparently needed a boost to her self-confidence.

"Why would you want to hide something that's so absolutely… beautiful?"

"It's not beautiful, Clint," Lucy said with a self-depreciating laugh as she looked at her hands twisted nervously in her lap. "It's a monster… I'm a monster."

"Maybe," Clint allowed with a quick nod of his head. "But aren't we all? I'm a godforsaken assassin, Angel, and so is Tasha. Banner is… not always Dr. Banner. Stark and Thor have their own demons. The trick is learning to live with it. Learning to live with what you've done and who you've become… while not loosing track of who you want to be." He reached up and rested a hand on her cool cheek as he continued, "I lost track of that for a long, long time, Lucy… but having you here with me… it's helped."

"How?" she snorted. "You hate me; you hated me even before you saw me like this. Although," she looked down at her body, remarking, "I don't know what to think about the fact that the Jotun is female too."

Clint smiled lightly at that last statement before taking up with the ones before it. "I do not hate you, Angel. Yes, when you first came here, I did. Viciously and gladly, I wanted to kill you, and it wouldn't have mattered what form you were in." He frowned in thought and took her hand, confessing, "But now I couldn't live without you – with every beautiful, sharp, cold angle of you. You've helped me heal in ways that you don't even understand… and I would love to have a child with you."

Lucy laughed, happy tears freezing on her cheeks as she leaned towards him for a kiss… and then there was a flash of red hair and black cloth as someone jumped from the air vents, screaming for Jarvis to assemble the Avengers in Clint's living room.


	17. Chapter 17

Clint swore, instantly on his feet, holding his discarded weapon, and pointing it at Natasha.

Just as quickly as Lucy moved to stop him, Thor moved towards her, stopping his sister from doing anything that might help the situation as he ordered her sharply, "Switch back to your mortal form."

Instantly Lucy complied, watching tensely as Natasha jerked her gun from its holster and pointed it straight at the head of the fallen god.

"What in the name of all that is holy is going on here, Clint?" she asked, looking with confusion between the three gathered across the room from her.

Clint's only answer was to ask, "How much of that did you hear?"

"Actually, I came in around 'Lucy' calling Thor 'brother.' Please tell me there's a very good explanation for that, because if it's what it sounds like, then we're going to have Asgardian brain splattered all over your walls in a minute."

"Wanna bet?" Clint asked tersely, stretching his arrow even tighter on the bow. "Tasha, I've dropped my weapon before when it was aimed at you; make it so that I can do that again. Lower your gun; I don't want to have to hurt you. No one needs to get hurt right now, but if Lucy's carrying my baby, I'm not going to let you harm her."

"Is. She. Loki?" Natasha asked evenly, gun not wavering a centimeter as she stared straight around the human shield that Thor and Clint were making around Lucy to meet the other woman's eyes.

"The closest thing that exists to Loki anymore," Lucy answered for herself.

"So you're still controlling him?" Natasha asked, jerking her head in Clint's direction.

"Hardly. It's been rather the other way around, actually. These two rarely give me a moment's peace." The elevator doors opened and Lucy nodded at the Avengers coming out along with Pepper, saying evenly, "And then there's them."

"What the heck is going on here?" Steve Rogers asked, marching from the elevator with concern scrawled across his features.

"I asked the same thing," Natasha replied, still not taking her eyes off of Lucy.

Rogers surveyed the partners who were still standing off across from one another with weapons drawn before he stepped towards his girlfriend and put a hand on her arm, ordering gently, "Nat, stop; lower your weapon. Whatever's going on here, we can talk it out like civilized people, right, guys?" He looked between Nat and Clint, his eyes flickering uncertainly to Thor whose grip on his hammer was particularly tight as he repeated, "Right?"

"Clint," Dr. Banner was the next to speak, eyeing the archer harshly. "Put those down, or so help me, I will break them in two, and quite possibly break Lucy in the process."

That got Clint's attention, and he threw the bow and arrow back onto the couch, raising his hands towards Natasha in a show of surrender. "Cap's right, Nat. We're all grownups here, and there's a little kid on the line, apparently. That's a completely innocent life, and neither of us wants that to end." Natasha's gun wavered and Clint took notice, saying, "Come 'ere, Nat. Just put the gun away, come here, and look right in my eyes. Then you can tell me whether or not Lucy's to blame for this."

Natasha was grinding her teeth in agitation, but she put the gun away and stepped up to her partner, obligingly searching his eyes and finding them no more blue then they normally were.

Suddenly there was nothing but pure confusion in her voice and expression as she asked again, "Then what the heck has been going on here?"

Clint sighed and waved the others onto the seating around the room while Lucy offered helpfully, "It's actually Odin's fault."

"No, it's not," Clint said, giving her a pointed but somehow amused look as he sat down and pulled her into his lap.

"What's Odin's fault?" Tony Stark asked in confusion. "And why exactly did Spidey and Legolas look ready to kill one another when we came in here?"

Thor answered tensely, "Because of Loki."

"Why?" Steve asked. "Where's Loki?"

Lucy flinched, slowly raising her hand. "Here."

There was a long, pregnant pause, and Rogers eventually looked at Stark to say something, but all the billionaire said was, "I don't say this very often, but I got nothing."

"It's magic, right?" Natasha finally asked.

Lucy nodded.

The redhead then asked, "Just… why?"

"Why am I here?" Lucy verified.

Natasha nodded.

"The All-father's idea was for Loki to garner some humanity and humility through servitude," Thor supplied. "But it backfired on him due to the woman that Lucy was turned into."

"Now, really," Lucy said. "If you will think back, my dear brother, it is _your _fault that I am here in this particularly feminine form."

"How am I to blame?!" Thor protested.

"You mentioned that there was already a manservant in the house, thus," Lucy gestured to her body. "I got this."

"And this," Clint said softly, moving one of her hands so that it was pressed against her abdomen. "So that means that you don't mind so much, right?"

"Excuse me?" Thor said suddenly, looking at Clint with a lot of emotions rolling through his eyes as he was apparently just realizing that he was going to become an uncle again.

Lucy looked at her brother in surprise, asking, "You didn't catch on to that yet?"

Thor mumbled something unintelligible.

"How about this, brother?" Lucy suggested. "You don't kill Clint, and Agent Romanoff does not kill me." She looked between Thor and the assassin as she asked, "Can we agree on that, please?"

Thor nodded and Agent Romanoff did too, albeit begrudgingly. Clint and Lucy both sighed with relief.

"How much acting have you been doing?" Pepper asked Lucy suddenly as the air around them became much less charged.

"Here recently, not much," Lucy admitted with a small smile. "Mostly it's just been lying about my background. The friendships that I've began to have with all of you and my feelings for Clint… I believe that those are genuine." She bit her lip. "At least… I'd like to believe that."

"Me too," Pepper said at last. "So… why don't we start over? I'm Pepper."

Lucy glanced at her hands as she admitted, "I'd still prefer being Lucy Saint; I like her better than Loki."

"Me too," Stark spoke up with a grin, unexpected kindness in his eyes as her gaze met his.

And for some reason, they all laughed at that. Lucy was hit with it then. They all knew. Every person in this room knew who she had been and what had been done to them at her hands, and they were all okay with her being here. She was still alive, they were all laughing together, and Clint was even happy about their upcoming baby.

For the moment, her life was perfect.


	18. Chapter 18

But perfection was a fickle thing, and often not long in lasting.

After being alerted by Heimdall that his daughter had, in fact, been exposed to her housemates as being Loki, Odin had been content to just sit by and wait for the young woman to be killed by one or another of earth's mightiest heroes. It never happened. As time wore on, none of them killed Lucy Saint, and after Lucy had spent half a year on Midgard, the All-Father grew impatient. It appeared he would have to go to Midgard himself and pose an ultimatum for his adopted child.

* * *

Even after four months of the Avengers knowing who she was, Lucy was still daily surprised by how well they treated her. Maybe it was the fact that she was very obviously with child by now, maybe it wasn't. Whatever the reason they were being so… normal… about it all, she loved them for it. They hadn't really changed the way they treated her at all – except for Captain Rogers; once she began to show her condition he'd done the impossible and become even more of a gentleman towards her. Sure, Agent Romanoff glanced at her askance every now and again, but had the roles been reversed, Lucy knew she would've been doing the same thing.

These were the thoughts that were rolling through her head when the Avengers plus Lucy and Pepper were once again watching a movie in Tony Stark's entertainment room of an evening. Those were the thoughts – thoughts of how much she liked it here – that were rolling through her head when a grungy old stranger suddenly slipped into the room.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Tony Stark asked with raised eyebrows, pausing the movie when everyone turned to their sudden visitor.

"I'm a friend of Thor and Lucy's," the old man said, his gaze coming to rest on her. "I've come to take them home."

Thor's eyes blew wide as he recognized who he was seeing. Mjolnir came flying into the room to rest in his hands as the god of thunder asked, "Does Asgard have need of us?"

"No," the man – Odin underneath a shape shifter's spell – said evenly, turning to his son. "I only come to tell you that it is time for one of you to come home – now or never again."

Thor paled as he realized that Odin was not here for him in the least nor even speaking to him, and he sat Mjolnir heavily back down on the floor as Lucy asked icily, "Why?"

"Why what?" Odin asked, turning to her.

"Why is it time to come home _now _and why 'now or never again'?"

"Because I will not have Asgard shamed this way a second time," Odin answered, his eyes suddenly flashing fire. "I have waited four months for them to put a knife through your treacherous heart and it has not happened, so I have given up. I have come to allow you to come home, but I haven't the patience to come after you a second time. You come now and I will return you to all of your former glory as the magic-wielding god Loki, or you remain here for the rest of your days in the form of your precious 'Lucy Saint'."

"You do not wish to become a grandfather again," Lucy summed it up coldly, laying one protective hand on her swelled middle and the other on Clint's arm to keep him from moving from her side to go for his bow and arrow. "You offer to allow me to come home now only because if I become Loki once again while I am still carrying my child, said offspring would die and be lost instantly, unable to survive in a masculine body."

"Do you wish to lose all of your abilities with magic forever?" Odin snapped, too focused on her now to notice the way the Avengers were shifting – Natasha going for the gun she kept concealed on her person at all times, Tony calmly pushing the button on his metal bracelets that would bring one of his suits to him, even Thor once again taking Mjolnir in hand as Bruce carefully took his glasses off and placed them on the coffee table since he didn't like for them to be broken when the "other guy" took over him.

Lucy sized Odin up before answering calmly, "I would rather lose my powers a thousand times over than lose the child that rests inside me, the man at my side, or the friends of mine that surround us. So, thank you so very much for your show of concern in coming to check on me – it is so very touching – but you may now leave. Do so immediately and you might even escape without harm coming to you."

Odin growled as he looked around the room and realized that they were indeed literally surrounded by Lucy's friends. The All-Father could've taken them more than likely – except for the fact that the Hulk might eventually just beat him to death – but he didn't seem in a mood to try. Lucy was no fool; Odin might have called her his loved child before he sent her to Midgard, but he simply did not careenough to try and take her back with him if she didn't come easily. With her here in female form on Midgard – with a five thousand year lifespan no longer hers to lay claim to – she was as good as dead to him, and that truly was all that he wanted where she was concerned.

"Very well," Odin replied. "I will not see you again then, Lucy Saint."

Lucy smirked, saying, "Splendid. Would you be so kind as to give Mother my regards and tell her that I have never been happier?"

Odin screamed for Heimdall then and went away in the midst of a streak of light and curses. He wouldn't be relaying any messages to Frigga, Lucy knew, but then, it was Odin, so what else was she supposed to expect from him?

"So… what's that mean?" Clint asked her, relaxing slowly as she curled into his arms. "Are you ours now?"

"No," Lucy answered with a smile. "I am _yours_."


	19. Chapter 19

After that small disturbance in the force, Tony upgraded Jarvis to alert him when the rainbow bridge dropped someone in his house and things settled back down. Life went on – the Avengers went on missions and Lucy even became Pepper's unofficially official assistant. It turned out that she had quite the knack for dealing nicely with people when she wanted to.

And then came the much anticipated day when she went into labor… and _of course _it had to happen in the middle of a board meeting with SHIELD without _any warning_, and _of course _every single Avenger had to be out on a team mission across town.

Lucy had been sitting quietly at the back of the room listening to Pepper try to explain away Tony's latest lab fiasco when her water broke out of the middle of nowhere. She gasped sharply, biting back a scream when she realized what was going on. As soon as she and Pepper were done with this meeting… Agent Maria Hill had been sitting near Lucy, and turned to look at her upon her sudden exclamation. The agent's eyes blew wide and Lucy knew she wasn't going to get away with waiting until the end of the meeting.

"Pepper!" Maria exclaimed, cutting the CEO off mid-sentence. "I think we need to go to the infirmary!"

All the people in the room – mostly men – turned to look at them as Pepper asked Maria, "Why? Are you okay?"

"Me? Yes. Lucy? No."

Pepper swore and jumped to her feet as she realized what was going on. Before Lucy could register what was going on, the two women were one on each side of her and leading her towards SHIELD's infirmary while Pepper threw an apology over her shoulder to the people in the meeting.

"Where's Clint?" Lucy asked with an edge of panic in her voice.

Maria replied, "Out on a mission."

"Bruce then?"

"Same mission," Maria said apologetically. "The whole team's gone."

"But I need someone!" Lucy practically wailed.

Lucy was grateful for Maria and Pepper's help, but it wasn't the same, and she didn't want to go through this alone once again.

* * *

Heimdall had been summoning Odin whenever there was something noteworthy going on in Lucy Saint's life, but this… this was different. She needed help and support, and Odin would never be the one to give it to her. So Heimdall made a different decision. If the father of Lucy's child couldn't be at her side, then perhaps the next best thing could be provided.

He turned to a guard and ordered, "Summon the queen, and tell her it's an urgent matter."

* * *

Lucy bit back another scream, mumbling every curse that came to mind along with the occasional death threat to her lover. Pepper and Maria had gotten her to an out-of-the-way room in the infirmary and were now standing right outside the door, arguing over whether or not they should get a doctor's assistance since the child that was ready to come out of her was most likely a frost giant. Lucy had done this once before, but she didn't know what to do now as the painful memories of Sleipnir's birth came back to her. All she knew was that she didn't want to be alone right now. She wanted someone in this room to help her.

And then someone was there, appearing out of midair. A fifty-something Midgardian with red hair and blue eyes wearing a nurse's uniform. A glad cry escaped Lucy as she realized who it was, and tears filled her eyes when the woman whipped towards her and clasped her hand.

"Hello, Miss Saint," the woman whispered, calm and loving as she pressed a cool hand to her daughter's forehead.

"Mother," Lucy whimpered, relief flooding her.

"Where are your friends?"

"Arguing outside the room."

Frigga rolled her eyes in frustration and marched to the door, throwing it open and hissing out orders to the women outside. Lucy wasn't even really surprised when the duo scampered off to get the materials Frigga desired.

Lucy's mother shut the door and took a deep breath while her back was still turned and then went back to her daughter's bedside, saying with a gentle smile, "Now, my child, you just trust the goddess of childbirth, alright?"

Lucy nodded.

"Are you ready?"

Lucy winced when her body answered that question for her. "I don't think I have a choice but to be."

* * *

Clint was standing on a rooftop in the Bronx next to Natasha when Ironman flew over them and stopped, hovering in midair a few feet from the archer, starting to swear viciously before the billionaire asked, "Like _now _now?" A pause during which Clint realized that someone must've contacted Tony through his suit, since Clint wasn't picking anything up through his earpiece, and then Tony's "well, he's kind of busy, Pep" while Natasha, Hawkeye, and Ironman kept shooting at the huge alien thing who had decided to invade the worst part of New York City. Another pause from Tony and then, "I'm sorry he's so talented at what he does, then, but we need him here!... You're there with her, aren't you?!... Yes, gorgeous, I know you're not him… Alright, alright, stop, Pepper, and listen. Give us five minutes, okay, and then we'll be on our way there. Can you do that?... Okay then, we'll try our best."

"What was that about?" Clint asked him.

Tony shook his head, ordering, "Just keep shooting arrows, Legolas. Jarvis, find me this guys weak spot _now_, or I'm sleeping on the couch for the next millennium, which means I will end up in my lab, which means that _you _will consistently be pulling all-nighters with me."

Natasha glared sharply up at Tony through narrowed eyes, muttering under her breath, "If that was the call I think it was, I'm killing him."

At the threat from his creator, Jarvis went to work, and a few minutes later the Avengers were walking away from it all.

"Jarvis, how much time has passed since Pepper called me?" Tony asked as the team climbed aboard the heli-carrier and Clint settled into the pilot's chair.

"Four minutes, fifty-seven seconds, sir."

"Brilliant. Hey, Katniss, take us to SHIELD's infirmary."

"Why?" Steve asked, looking around at the team. "No one was hurt that badly, right?"

"No, but we might be if we don't get to that infirmary soon."

And suddenly it hit Clint – what Natasha had realized five minutes ago and he had just now got.

"Stark," Clint asked in a crisp, low voice as their transportation took to the air. "Is my girlfriend in labor?"

"That depends on what 'crowning' means," Tony answered, shifting nervously. "Because Pepper said that their bossy nurse said that Lucy was close to that."

"Son of a… I'm going to _kill _you as soon as this plane lands, Anthony Edward Stark, do you understand me?"

"There won't be anything left of him for you to kill, Clint," Natasha said. Clint kept his eyes forward, slicing through the air as quickly as he could, and heard his partner ask, "Thor, do you and Mjolnir want first dibs or do I get it?"


	20. Chapter 20

Once he'd landed the heli-carrier, Clint didn't take time to kill the billionaire. Agent Hill and Pepper met them when they landed and gave him directions to the room, and he rushed straight back to the infirmary in time to hear the words spoken by an unfamiliar voice, "It's a girl! I'm going to go ahead and cut the cord now."

"I will!" Clint declared breathlessly, practically busting in the door to get to Lucy and their child.

"You're late," the redhead nurse said coolly as she handed him the sewing scissors.

"I'm sorry," Clint apologized, looking at Lucy. "So, so, so sorry. There was an alien, and Tony didn't tell me what was going on, and Nat's killing him as we speak, and she's already promised that you can pick his bones clean if you want once Thor and I are done with him, and-"

"It's fine," Lucy finally said, cutting him off with a weary smile. "Now take care of your daughter, Clint."

"Oh…" Clint whispered in awe, his eyes finally landing on the screaming little girl in the nurse's arms. He cut the umbilical cord, murmuring to Lucy, "She's beautiful."

"Can I see her?" Lucy excitedly asked the woman who was still gently holding the newborn.

That was when Clint swallowed nervously, realizing that the baby was angled in such a way in the nurse's arms that Lucy had yet to glimpse her daughter. "Why don't you let the nurse clean her up first, Angel, then you can see her in all of her best glory," Clint suggested, walking over to take Lucy's hand.

Lucy licked her lips, looking at him nervously as she realized that something was off. "I was right, wasn't I… about the Jotun blood in her?"

"She's a beautiful little girl – our beautiful baby girl – and she doesn't need to be anything more than what she is, Angel."

"Mother could cast the spell on her that I told you I had, if you'd rather," Lucy suggested weakly, her eyes searching his.

"No, Lucy," Clint murmured gently, kneeling down by his wife's bedside and taking her hand. "No spells, please, Angel. Let her be who she is from the very beginning. She's beautiful because she's ours, and she shouldn't have to change a thing if she doesn't want to. Just like you."

"You really think that?" Lucy asked.

Clint nodded, and he saw a thought flicker through her eyes in the second before they were loudly invaded. Avengers poured into the room – his team, Pepper, Agent Hill, even Jane. Knowing that Lucy would be content for a moment without him when Thor and Jane came over to her bedside, Clint made his way to the corner of the room where the nurse was holding his now-cleaned-up baby daughter close and eyeing the crowd warily.

"Thank you for helping my girlfriend," Clint said, still not quite used to the word on his tongue.

The woman's smile was uncertain as she said, "Thank you for helping my child."

"I'm sorry?"

"I'm Frigga of Asgard," the nurse said, her expression gaining some confidence as she spoke. "Odin's wife and L…ucy's mother – adopted mother, but we both count it."

Clint nodded, trying not to show his surprise as he replied, "Then I'm sure it meant a lot to her to have you here today." Frigga nodded, that same coolness sliding back into place, and Clint felt obliged to say, "I promise you, I would've given anything to be here for her while she was having this baby. I love her and don't mean to hurt her, but… well," he shrugged and smirked with self-depreciation. "I'm only human."

Frigga smiled herself saying then, "I understand, Agent Barton, and so does my daughter. She grew up watching me as the wife of a warrior and king; she knows there are sacrifices that must be made for the good of others.

"She is a trooper, my Lucy," Clint said proudly, glancing back over his shoulder towards the woman in question.

"Agent Barton," Frigga paused before asking, "Did you mean what you said about my granddaughter?" Frigga shifted the well-concealed bundle of blankets so that Clint could look straight at the tiny blue face and tiny blue hand that was peeking out from the layers of material. "About your wanting her to go without a spell?"

"I did and I do," Clint replied, carefully holding out a finger and hissing when extreme cold wrapped around the digit. "It's just daddy, princess," Clint said, and by some miracle the baby girl seemed to recognize his voice, because the cold suddenly decreased to the point of no longer being close to giving him frostbite. He turned back to Frigga, asking in a low voice meant just for her, "Isn't that what started Loki's rampage? He wanted to prove himself a worthy son once he found out that he hadn't been told the truth of his Jotun origins? It seems to me that could be avoided by letting the child know the truth from the get-go. Why disguise who they really are?"

"That is idealistic, Agent Barton," Frigga said, her tone caught somewhere between skepticism and admiration.

"I don't want her – Lucy or the baby – to be hurt any more than you do; I just happen to believe that leaving her as she is is the lesser of the two evils in the long run. When you're with the Avengers, you're just one more superhuman freak among many. Believe me, Frigga, she will be safe as she is with us."

The nervous grandmother nodded and sighed, looking something like resigned as a smile lifted the corners of her mouth and she asked, "Do you want to hold her?"

"Of course," Clint said with a smile, taking the baby girl.

He smiled adoringly, taking in the fine dark hair and sharp nose that had come from her mother along with the round shape of her face that Clint recognized as his own. The little girls hand wrapped around his finger again when he offered it, and she blinked moodily, giving him a glimpse of eyes the color of Tony's suit.

"You're such a beautiful little girl, he murmured to her.

He was so zeroed in on his newborn daughter that he never saw Tony come up behind him until the inventor screamed, "What the heck is that thing?"


	21. Chapter 21

In that next minute, things happened almost faster than Clint could comprehend them. Frigga moved to stand directly between him and Tony, and she was no longer dressed as a nurse. She had been shape-shifted before, Clint realized, because now she was a solid head taller than she had been and wearing a Shakespearian-style blue dress with her red curls only now half-up and half-down.

She looked every centimeter the queen of Asgard and more importantly a mother, and from the look in her eyes alone, Tony quickly took a step back, though he couldn't help saying, "That thing is a monster."

"That _thing_," Thor said in a deep, measured voice as he realized who had come for a visit to Midgard, "Is her grandchild, and I would advise you to _shut up_."

"Aesthetics aren't everything, Mr. Stark," a new voice said from the doorway.

Clint turned with everyone else towards that voice and was momentarily perplexed to see one…two… six kids standing in a cluster at the door, none looking older than fifteen or younger than eight.

Frigga seemed completely at ease with these strangers, though, asking them edgily, "Children, what are you doing here?"

"Heimdall told us to come," the youngest boy said carefully, as the newcomers took in the tense air in the room. "He said father might wish us to meet someone."

"Heimdall deserves to be flogged for overstepping his bounds," Thor said bluntly.

"Shut up, Thor," Lucy said sharply.

"Children, come in and shut the door behind you before someone hears something they ought not," Frigga ordered, and Clint wondered if she noticed how all the boys paled as their gazes fell on Lucy.

"Vali," the youngest, who was also the only girl of the group, looked to one of the older boys asking innocently once they were all shut into the room, "Where is father?"

The boy called Vali took a deep breath and looked warily to the boy of their group who was apparently the oldest for the answer to that question. That oldest boy took a deep breath, seeming at a loss for words, and that's when it hit Clint. Six kids, one of whom was named Vali? These were _Lucy's children_!

"I'm right here, Hel," Lucy said softly, holding out her arms towards the little girl.

This, of course, led to a round of confused murmurs from most and Dr. Banner – apparently realizing who these kids were – even swore before one of the middle boys literally snarled at him. That had to be Fenrir. The kids – all but the oldest, anyway – made their way to Lucy's bedside as the adults cleared a path for them to do so.

"Hello, sweet girl," Lucy said gently, brushing black hair back out of Hel's eyes as the girl was shuffled closest to her by her siblings. "Do you recognize me?"

"Yes," the little girl whispered in awe. "You're my father…"

Lucy laughed softly, wrapping the little girl in her arms. "Yes, I am. I look a little different now, do I not?"

"So do Sleipnir and Fenrir and Jormungandr and Vali and Narfi, but they're still them," Hel answered simply, "And I'm still me."

The logic of a child was apparently what most of the little girl's brothers needed, because it was then that those who were already at Lucy's bedside began to shuffle forward and hug her, whispering little things to her that Clint couldn't hear.

"What about you, my son?" Lucy said, looking towards the oldest boy who was still at the doorway once she had already been given five hugs.

The teen flushed, shifting clumsily from foot to foot. For one reason or another he was much more uncomfortable here than his siblings, and Clint narrowed his eyes, suddenly getting an idea of why that might be as he recalled Odin's little rant from four months ago.

_I will not have Asgard shamed this way a second time_.

"Nah, Lucy," Clint spoke up from the corner. "He's too preoccupied, too curious about something else at the moment."

"And what might I be so distracted by?" the teenager asked him stiffly, eyes narrowing first upon the bundle in Clint's arms and then upon Clint himself.

"Suspicions," Clint said casually as he made his way towards the kid. "Correct suspicions, as a matter of fact, Sleipnir."

The clumsy kid blinked, and Clint smiled, knowing he'd gotten at least that name pegged onto the correct person.

"Obviously," Sleipnir said dryly, his eyes once again drifting to the sleeping Jotun that Clint held.

"You don't like the idea of your mother being hurt again, not by anyone ever, but especially not like this," Clint continued. "Motherhood was horrible for her the first time around, and you don't like that that's happened again. I'll even go so far as to say that a protective kid like you – because you are protective; you're the leader of your siblings right? – might even feel a little guilty that this is her life now. Is any of that right?" Sleipnir glared at him, and Clint took that as his affirmative, continuing, "Well then, someone needs to tell you a little more about how things have been working down here with your mother on Midgard, because last I heard, she was happy here, and if she wasn't, I wouldn't dream of keeping her here against her will." He stopped in front of Sleipnir then, and turned to Lucy, asking, "You are happy here, aren't you, Angel?"

"Of course I am!" Lucy said, hurrying to reassure her eldest. "Especially now that you and your brothers and sisters are here with me."

"Sister_s_?" Hel asked curiously, eagerly catching the pluralizing of the word.

Lucy grinned at Hel, squeezing her shoulders as she said, "You have a new baby sister now! And you know what? I haven't even seen her yet! My friend Clint has been keeping her all to himself."

"That's not right!" the youngest boy said indignantly.

"You're absolutely right, it's not," Lucy said with a firm nod in the boy's direction and then a playfully given order directed towards Clint, "I demand to hold my daughter right this instant!"


	22. Chapter 22

**Minor references to Sleipnir having telepathic powers in this chapter.**

* * *

Clint grinned, obediently moving to Lucy's bedside and handing her the baby. He watched her carefully for signs of distress at the infant's looks, but there really were none that he noticed. So long as he was okay with having a half-Jotun daughter, Lucy seemed to be okay with the idea as well.

Hel scrambled eagerly up to sit beside Lucy and ran a finger ever so gently along her sister's cheek.

"Careful," Clint warned under his breath.

The scrawny kid standing next to him explained to him, "We have Jotun blood in us as well; the cold doesn't bother us."

Clint nodded. "Makes sense."

"Who are you?" the same voice who had first spoken – Sleipnir – came up behind Clint and quietly posed the question.

"Agent Clint Barton."

"The child's father?" Fenrir asked him.

Clint nodded.

"Hawkeye…" the one who was obviously Vali's full-blooded brother, Narfi, mused.

Sleipnir raised his eyebrows, asking, "The mind-controlled Hawkeye?"

Clint sighed, saying slowly, "Yes."

"And yet you love her now?"

Here Clint didn't hesitate an instant before answering, "Yes."

Lucy cut into their quiet conversation, suddenly asking, "Clint?"

"Yeah?" he answered, turning to her.

"Did you hear Hel's question?"

"I'm sorry, sweetie; what do you need?"

"What's my sister's name?"

Clint frowned as he looked at Lucy, admitting, "None that we had in mind really fit her, do they?"

"That's what I think too. What do we do about it?"

"Why not… let the kids think up something?" Clint suggested.

Lucy looked at her children with raised eyebrows. "Go ahead. Give us something to work with here… if you want to."

Sleipnir narrowed his eyes as he moved to his mother and gave her a gentle hug before carefully settling down on the edge of the bed and sliding his tiny sister into his arms. "What do you think, little one?" he murmured, a small smile ghosting onto his lips. "What's a name magnificent enough for a girl with blood red eyes, ice blue skin, and raven black hair?"

Sleipnir froze then, a thought coming to mind as his gaze turned slowly to one brother after another and they realized what he was thinking. Whatever it was, it was lost on Clint.

"You can read her better than any of us," Vali said at last. "Is she being treated well?"

"Better than Odin ever thought to treat her," Sleipnir answered.

"I thought I felt something when you hugged me," Lucy told Sleipnir dryly.

"Forgive me, Mother; a son worries."

Lucy nodded without further comment.

"But are we sure that we like him that much?" Narfi asked.

"They like him that much," Sleipnir said, gesturing to the baby in his arms and his mother at his side. "And they are the best point of reference that we have."

"You obviously have a name in mind;" Lucy said. "I would like to know what it is."

Sleipnir sighed and eyed Clint before answering Lucy, "What about _Ravn._ Anglicized perhaps?"

Lucy eyed her six children, smiling at them all, particularly Hel's eager nod.

"I think they might have accepted the wicked step-witch," Jane said lightly.

Lucy laughed and asked Clint, "What do we think of the name 'Raven'?"

Clint smiled at his daughter in Sleipnir's arms and then at the other six children. "I like it a lot."

Narfi smiled slowly at him, answering, "Us too. Birds can be very admirable when they want to be."

Clint's smile just widened.

* * *

One week later, Lucy was back at the tower, and Clint couldn't wait to get there as well. Fury had sent him on a three day mission the day after Lucy had come home, and he was excited to see his girlfriend and daughter again.

Steve met him at headquarters, explaining as the two men headed to his car, "Nat's gone on a mission at the moment – Russia something, I think – and she made me promise to pick you up for her when you got back."

"Cool," Clint answered, sliding into the passenger side seat.

"Hey," Steve asked as he pulled out into the street. "Do you mind if I… make one little stop before we head back? I promise it'll only take a minute; I've got to just pick something up for Natasha."

Clint shrugged begrudgingly. "Sure."

"Thanks."

Clint nodded, but continued to sulk until curiosity overcame his pity party when he realized that Steve had brought them to a jeweler.

"You can stay here; I'll be right back."

Again, Clint nodded and then watched Steve through the storefront window when the man behind the counter produced a ring box from the back of the store and showed the box's contents to the captain. Steve smiled and nodded approvingly, signed for the item, and then walked back to the car with a bag in hand and a secretive smile on his face.

"Rogers," Clint asked once they were going down the road again. "Is that piece of jewelry what I think it is?"

Steve smiled and kept looking straight at the road as he requested, "Don't tell her, okay?"

"I won't ruin it for you, scout's honor," Clint promised.

But two days later when Natasha returned home from her mission already wearing the ring that Steve had given her right when she'd come back to SHIELD base, Clint made sure that there was already a party at the tower to meet them.

"Shh!" Lucy snapped the second Clint stepped onto their level of the house after the party. "Raven's finally asleep, and I swear by all the Norns, if you wake her, you will die."

Clint sat down on the couch beside Lucy and ran his hand over the curls of their nine-day-old daughter in her arms, whispering, "All this time and you're back to threatening to kill me?"

"She just went to sleep because of all the noise coming from that party on Tony's level. Have you checked the clock lately? And I have to be at work tomorrow, birdbrain!"

"Okay, okay, Angel, I get the message. Mama bird needs to go to bed. I'll take baby duty tonight – all week even. You give me a kiss and go to bed."

Lucy obligingly kissed him and transferred Raven into his arms before standing and double-checking with concern, "Are you sure? I bet if we put her to bed now she'll stay asleep for a little while at least and then we can both get some sleep."

"Nah, it's fine," Clint said, waving her off. "I'm too hyped up right now to sleep anyway. We'll be in soon."

"Okay," Lucy said, giving him another peck on the lips before vanishing out of hearing range.

"Jarvis?" Clint said when he was sure Lucy wouldn't hear his question. "Do you mind showing me how to ring shop?"


	23. Chapter 23

"Do you realize what today is?" Clint asked Lucy, shifting two-month-old Raven on his lap and putting her on her back on their picnic blanket so that she could look at the clouds floating through the sky over the roof of Avengers Tower.

"No…" Lucy said, looking at him and drawing her eyebrows together as she tried to come up with the answer.

"One year today, you became Lucy Saint."

Lucy smiled, realizing he was right.

"She's a pretty awesome woman," Clint added as Lucy curled close to him.

She slapped him playfully on the arm, muttering happily, "Stop it!"

"I will not," Clint answered. "Because I love you and you're worth bragging on." He stopped, took a deep breath, and finished, "And that's why I want to give you this."

Then he had an open ring box in his hand, and a diamond and sapphire ring was glinting in the sunlight. Lucy gasped as she realized just what Midgardian tradition he was carrying out here.

"Clint?" she said breathlessly, searching his eyes.

The arm that wasn't holding the ring tightened around her shoulders as he said, "We're a couple of very screwed up people, Angel, and one year ago, I was bound and determined that it was going to be impossible for us to live together… but now I don't want to live without you. I've made mistakes, and I'll make even more of them before I die, but I need you to be there to help me out of whatever holes I dig for myself. I heard a saying once – a really fruity, stupid Dr. Seuss thing – but it fits us perfectly. 'We're all a little weird and life's a little weird. And when we find someone who's weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.' I love you, Lucy Saint, and I want to spend the rest of my life living with you, however long that is. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

"Yes!" Lucy laughed with glee and disbelief. "Of course I will!"

Clint's hands were actually shaking as he took the ring out of its box and slid it onto her ring finger. Once the piece of jewelry was settled comfortably where it belonged, Lucy took his face in her hands and kissed him, leaving him as breathless as she was.

"You know," she suggested. "I'm sure Natasha would understand if we asked her to watch Raven for a little while so we could have some grownup time…"

Clint smiled and started cleaning up their picnic while Lucy scooped Raven up into her arms. "I can definitely get behind that idea."

* * *

Clint knew that Lucy and Natasha had become friends over the past year and a half that the former had been living in the tower, but it had never crossed his mind that they might be close enough for Natasha to end up being Lucy's maid of honor.

"I'm not her maid of honor, Hawkeye," Natasha corrected when he referenced her as such as he passed through the living room – read: wedding planners' headquarters – while five women sat clustered looking at wedding dress options.

"Then what are you?" he asked, leaning against the doorway, halfway wary of getting any closer to the scene in front of him.

"It's called a matron of honor," Jane told him, though all five heads – Lucy, Nat, Jane, Pepper, and Agent Maria Hill – stayed bent over magazines and cutouts.

"Is there even a difference?" he asked with a role of his eyes, stooping down to pick up eight month old Raven when she crawled away from her Aunt Jane in favor of her daddy.

"Matron means the woman standing in that spot is already married," Natasha supplied. "And you will recall that there was a wedding last month between Steve and myself?"

"Yeah, yeah," Clint answered. "I stood up there, remember? Speaking of standing up there… why you?"

"I beg your pardon?" Lucy asked, glancing away from her magazine and up at him.

"Of all the women that are involved with the Avengers, Natasha's the last one I would expect you to ask to be your maid-matron of honor, that's all."

"Where do you think I got all of my tips and tricks for dealing with you?" Lucy asked teasingly.

"And to be honest," Agent Hill piped up. "Weirder things have happened."

"Name one!" Clint demanded.

There was a dead-silent pause and then Natasha snorted, Agent Hill raised her eyebrows at him, Jane choked on her soda, and Pepper just cracked up with laughter.

Seeing the sudden look of confusion on his face, Natasha chucked a throw pillow at him with deadly aim, ordering, "Get out of here! If you actually have to say that, then you're not worthy of our presence right now."

"Well, fine," Clint muttered, all too glad to head down to Tony's with a declaration of "Raven's coming to watch football with me and her uncles!"

The game was halfway over before Clint realized that all of those women upstairs considered his and Lucy's relationship the "weirder thing that had happened."

"Raven," Clint murmured into his daughter's ear where she sat comfortably leaned back on his lap with a bottle. "Should I resent that? I don't know; what do you think?"

"What are you muttering about over there?" Dr. Banner asked him.

"Nothing important," Clint answered easily.

Since Raven didn't seem too keen on piping up with her opinion anyway, Clint kept his thoughts to himself, eventually deciding that there was no point in resenting what Agent Hill had implied. The truth was that she was right; he couldn't have seen falling in love with Lucy coming either, but he had, and what was the point in being offended when someone pointed out the truth?

The truth was what he had said to her when he had proposed half a year ago. They were screwed up and weird in their own ways, but they were in love with one another, and he could no longer imagine himself doing anything but living with Lucy forever.

* * *

**Thank you guys so much for reading! Reviews equal love and rainbows if you feel so inclined. Thanks again!:)**


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